Teresa Heinz-Kerry, the wife of Sen. John Kerry, is battling breast cancer first discovered by an annual mammogram last September.

(CNN) — Teresa Heinz-Kerry, the wife of Sen. John Kerry, is battling breast cancer first discovered by an annual mammogram earlier this year, she announced in a Pittsburgh-Post Gazette Op-Ed Wednesday.

A spokesman from the Heinz Family Philanthropies confirmed to CNN Heinz-Kerry does have cancer.

Heinz-Kerry writes she was diagnosed and treated for stage one cancer in both breasts, first detected at an early stage during an annual mammogram. According to Heinz-Kerry, she has had two operations and her prognosis for a full recovery is good.

In the Op-Ed, the 71-year-old Heinz-Kerry also said an annual mammogram is vital to a positive prognosis, and made clear she sharply disagreed with a federal panel recommendation last month that women in their 40s should stop routinely having annual mammograms and older women should cut back to one scheduled exam every other year.

“The members of the task force were predisposed to choose numbers over people and their recommendations forgot that women do not need more excuses not to get a mammogram at regular intervals, as determined by their doctors,” Heinz-Kerry writes. “Our busy lives are full of those. What we need are more reasons to keep those appointments, more support of the value of prevention and refinement of diagnostic procedures, and more choices.”

“I am not a doctor or medical expert, but it is neither the doctors nor the experts to whom I wish to speak here. It is, rather, to all the women who have been left confused by this latest report, and to all those who love them,” she added.

The Department of Health and Human Services has said it did not endorse the government panel’s recommendation and continues to urge for annual mammograms.

(Updated with Heinz-Kerry’s Op-Ed comments)

– CNN’s Bob Crowley contributed to this report

La divina.

Candid readers, I appreciate your patience in waiting a month for this latest installment.  I’m honored that some of you wrote specially to request more — so herewith a compilation or potpourri of several squibs and bagatelles, previously published elsewhere, on She Who Must Be Reported On.  There’s no lexical or even thematic thread running through them, except that each glosses a news story touching Gov. Palin; I’ve just transcribed them in chronological order, discrete.  Enjoy!

[06/26/09]

Preach it, Sarah! And keep being physically and morally beautiful — it makes the Dorian Gray Democrats just livid. Especially Sen. Ketchupheiress, treasonable champion of the American Left in 2004: Horse’s face, horse’s ass. As Churchill reportedly said to the bossy dowager (the literate know the prelude, so I omit it here): “Yes, madame — but in the morning I shall be sober, and you will still be ugly.”

All good satirists go ad hominem, or in Kerry’s case ad equum. Can’t keep it at the level of high legal theory all the time, especially dealing with Sen. Medalsthrower, that betraying bastard.

Actually, on reflection Sarah’s too kind. It’s not so much the length as the corrugation of Kerry’s snout. Really the overall effect is, echoing Catullus 97, the wrinkling and puckering of a dehiscent mule, only permanently frozen in place.

Here’s the poem for my Latinists. Truly, it’s Kerry:

Non (ita me di ament) quicquam referre putavi
utrumne os an culum olfacerem Aemilio.
nilo mundius hoc, nihiloque immundius illud,
verum etiam culus mundior et melior:
nam sine dentibus est. hoc dentis sesquipedalis,
gingivas vero ploxeni habet veteris,
praeterea rictum qualem diffissus in aestu
meientis mulae cunnus habere solet.
hic futuit multas et se facit esse venustum,
et non pistrino traditur atque asino?
quem si qua attingit, non illam posse putemus
aegroti culum lingere carnificis?

[07/05/09]

‘Don’t explain; your friends don’t need it, and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.’ Conservatives, consider taking the Governor at her word. Resign political office, sparing oneself and one’s children sprays of poison from Obama’s grinning degenerates, aging catamites like David Letterman and gnawing shrews like “Katie” Couric? Of course the lefties scoff — how should the children of broken homes, of aborting mothers and homosexual fathers, believe? What evidence do they give of even the thinnest scraping of moral imagination? Is it so strange the Governor should stoke great billows of hatred and wrath in HuffPo degenerates? “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

[07/08/09]

La Camilla on La Sara, hot off the press:

“The vicious double standard is pretty obvious. Only the tabloids, for example, ran the photos of a piss-drunk Chelsea Clinton, panties exposed, falling into her car outside London clubs a few years ago. If Chelsea had been the scion of Republican bigwigs, those tacky scenes would have been trumpeted from pillar to post in the U.S. as signals of parental failures…”

[07/14/09]

Palin Derangement Syndromers, gnash your teeth — Sarah speaks. And whenever she does, it’s news. Go ahead: fume, sputter, get red in the face. The more you clench your fists, the more Sarah just slips through your fingers. Here, you can enjoy her dumping on Sen. Voraxa Vulpine’s (D-CA) cap-and-tax hike. The old bag’s just grandstanding, of course; a sop for the Bay Area body-odor set. Don’t kid yourselves, hippies; the bill’s going nowhere. Oh, and Boxer looks like an old boot, too.

Sarah’s media gold and she’ll be making news whenever she wants for years to come. Hate her till you pop a vein, lefties. And Meghan McCain Republicans. (That bleached-out Black Angus, three hundred pounds of Daily Beast beef on the hoof, is twice the woman Sarah is — on the bathroom scale. I adamantly oppose abortion but can’t Cindy McCain be ordered to have one retroactively?)

[07/17/09]

It takes a Canadian, to see the zero-sum culture war of urban with rural America.

“We have one group that lives under the highly artificial and intensely regulated conditions of post-modern urban life. (Even if they go to a cottage, it will be equipped with the electronic paraphernalia to create a bubble of urbanity.) And, we have another group who remain in contact with the eternal verities of life on this planet. (Who, for instance, associate electric power with doing work, as opposed to “making consumer choices.”)

Perhaps better terms for the two sides, to replace left and right, might be “martians” and “earthlings.”

It is to the earthlings in this scenario that Ms. Palin is speaking. And when she writes lines like this intentional jaw-dropper in the Washington Post — “We are ripe for economic growth and energy independence if we responsibly tap the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil” — she is quite intentionally signalling that she is ready for war.”

[07/22/09]

The Constitutionalist renaissance continues. The time’s ripe, conservatives and libertarians: give each moderate or centrist you know a thumbnail education in federalism. Most don’t know the concept from Adam, having wasted four years, like yours truly, in one of those NEA homes for aging hippies where they teach sex ed instead of civics. But once explained, they grasp it instinctively, and respond eagerly. They know they don’t like it when the First Citizen (if he is one) confiscates their income to shower his urban redoubts with cash. They know they hate it when federal courts shove alien cultural and religious values down their throats. Now give them a principled reason why! Pragmatics are all very well, but teach these persuadables they don’t even need to reach the merits, whether this or that socialist policy of Obomber “works” or not — does it do violence to the Constitution? Yes. Then defy it.

[07/27/09]

What’s old is always new again, and where better for the next Tenth Amendment renaissance than the home of Boy Bryan, the original Red State republican — lower-case, please — and a loyal son of Jefferson and Jackson. As those who nowadays attend Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinners are distinctly not. Though of course neither are many of those who host and attend Lincoln Day dinners. Sarah Palin, Michael Huckabee and all other non-Arian presidential hopefuls, please take note.

[07/28/09]

Give me more of that old-time Ann Coulter! The Queen of Mean dumps on the locker room punching bags and dowdy schoolgirls who grew up to be Jon Stewart, or university staff. Libs are “talking about her like an ex-girlfriend… Because she’s magnificent… a huge star… the hatred for Palin is coming from liberal women in New York who have overheard their boyfriends saying, Well, gotta admit, she is good-looking.”

[Postscript]

My old friend Peona de Fleur, high up in a Washington D.C.-area conservative think tank, as quick-witted as your faithful servant but less stodgy, suggests the following captions for Gov. Palin’s photo:

“Because Todd’s at least this big, I keep comin’ back to ride that ride…”

“Anyone who’s not this big won’t beat me down, come 2012…”

“You know what turns liberal women into conservatives?”

“Most Lefties dream of redistribution because they don’t have it upstairs or downstairs…”

There are times when try as we might the deepest secrets of national security are made know.  Such was the case last week when the wife of Britain’s MI-16 spy service posted photos of the reclusive spymaster in his Speedo on a beach on her Facebook.com page.  Needless to say it is not good when every potential and enemy sees their enemy in such a revealing garment which most men who are not young good looking world class swimmers should never be seen in public in.  So the dear wife of the British spymaster has blown his cover in a big way.  Now Al Qaida will be staking out Brighton Beach or the French Riviera for a chance to schwack him, or at least give him an atomic wedgie as they no longer need simply to see his face but now know what the rest of his body looks like.

Unfortunately there was a security breach in Padre Steve’s household as the Abby Normal Abbess aka “Judy the Snitch” revealed something that the government has been concealing from you for many years.   Of course she could not help herself in being a snitch since she was the youngest child in her family, save her Pug Susie.  Since the damage to yours and mine national security cannot be undone now that she has posted for the world to see, I am posting the link to her article in hopes that the knowledge of the leak and the official explanation from Padre Steve will defuse this crisis.  The link is here:

http://abbeynormalabbess.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/steve-ketchup-and-national-security/

Now the official explanation:  Catsup packets and other condiments are indeed to reserve currency in case of a meltdown in the world economy.  Since many in the world are fearful of a worst case scenarios like the Great Depression or the hyper-inflation period of the Weimar Republic the world leaders decided that condiment packets that are found in fast food restaurants from Atlanta to Zagreb would do in a pinch.  Now this has not been announced anywhere and will not be officially as it could cause a rush on catsup futures which would further destabilize the already fragile world economy as McDonalds, Burger King and other fast food giants would be forced to close stores and lay off employees to find the money to keep the catsup bins stocked.

For those that don’t know the Germans have ascribed a monetary value to catsup and other condiment packets.  Back in the old days if you went to a fast food place or an Imbiss (a little snack bar often found in small towns) you would pay 5 pfennings for a packet of catsup.  Today with the advent of the Euro the last time I was there they cost 10 Euro Cents, which is about 14-15 US cents at recent exchange rates.  Some US fast food franchises now charge for more than the two or three packets that they might normally give you.  I found this out when I looked in the bag with my “to go” order and seeing that there were not enough to have extra to add to my stockpile, I asked for more and was told that it would be an additional charge.  Knowing what I know I paid for the extra.  Many fast food restaurants now have copied what Wendy’s has done for many years and instead of giving you packets of catsup as a “dine-in” customer now supply a pumping station to the catsup tank located below the store, which a couple of times month a tanker truck filled with catsup pulls up to about 0300, or 3 AM and fills up the secret tank.  This is one reason McDonalds is replacing its older buildings, it is cheaper to build a new building with the tank than renovate.  It also provides them cover of plausible deniability should people ask when the parking lot is ripped up and a tank is being installed.  These catsup tankers are unmarked for the reason that the restaurants and the government do not want you to know what is really going on.  Most of these are owned by the Heinz conglomerate whose owner; Teresa Heinz Kerry is married to a member of the US Senate and former Presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry.  By doing this the government and the restaurants are allowing themselves to stockpile catsup packets for the coming time when they will be needed.

Now you probably wonder how you can verify what I am saying.  If you have a friend or family member in the military or employed by a Federal or State law enforcement agency and visit their home or ride in their car, look for their secret stash.  After reading what Judy wrote on her blog, Judy’s cousin Diana recalled a visit to her daughter Becki who is a senior Law Enforcement official in a Federal Government agency with an astronomically high security clearance. Becki also has a drawer full of catsup and other condiment packets.  The light went on for Diana and she knew that indeed that Judy had unearthed a dark secret.

I’m sure that this post will also give the Bible prophecy addicts something new to ponder in relationship to the scriptures which talk about in the end times a bar of gold will buy a loaf of bread and stuff like that.  It is likely now that this is out there that books like The Late Great Planet Earth and parts of The Left Behind series will have to be re-written.

Additionally survivalists and militia movement members who have long suspected a government conspiracy will begin to stockpile catsup packets and begin to hijack restaurant re-supply trucks to make off with cases of catsup and other condiments and even Al Qaida my start targeting Heinz, Hunts and Del Monte catsup plants around the country seeking yet another way to undermine US and world economic security.

So that’s the story.  There will be a cover up of course as there always are, when asked government spokesmen and women will claim ignorance or deny the story altogether.  But now you know the dirty little secret. As we know from Agents Scully and Mulder in the X-Files the truth is out there.

Peace, Steve+

Note:  I gave a bad title to a post a couple of days ago.  It is the “Visit to Super Holy International Temple.”  It is quite funny and quite profound in its own way and I hope that you look it up if you din’t think that the title sounded too interesting. I was told by a reader that it reminded him of the book “The Shack” which I have never read.

We know the story in this is that Rahm Emanuel basically endorsed Sara Feigenholtz for his old seat by putting this campaign sign for her up at his Chicago house — but we can’t get passed the fact his house is powder blue and strawberry pink.

Not surprised in the least, but, really?  It looks like it’s made of those bubblegum cigars handed out when people have a baby.

This pretty much confirms that Feigenholtz will be a place-holder in the 5th Congressional, because Rahm wants someone in his seat who will give it up when he wants to come back to Chicago and be a Congressman again.  If he’s backing Feigenholtz, that means she’s on the same page with that.

The same powder blue and strawberry pink welcome to fabulous page.

The other thing that makes us laugh about this is how much it reminds us of Teresa Heinz Kerry and the 2004 campaign. Back in Fox Chapel, near Pittsburgh, Teresa got tired of reporters staking out her family’s mansion, so to throw them off their game, one night she had her staff put up all kinds of Bush/Cheney signs all over her front yard.  The next morning, the news crews vanished, since they believed they had the wrong house — and they couldn’t figure out why what they thought was the Heinz mansion had Bush/Cheney signs all over it.

Kerry would have been a terrible president, but man alive, Teresa would have been the most lively and interesting First Spouse since Frances Cleveland.

A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, ‘Huh. It works. It makes sense.’
And when it’s bad legislation, it’s stays on the books. When it’s unconstitutional, it stays on the books. When it’s unjust…

Americans… still believe in an America where anything’s possible – they just don’t think their leaders do.
It’s 2009 and there are no leaders on either side of the aisle, just arrogant pricks who have overstepped their authority and raided the Treasury.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
We wish you’d change your language to something less vague and useless.

Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career.
How wonderfully this says nothing! May we quote you for our brochure?

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
It’s none of the government’s business what people wish to do with their lives, provided it’s legal. If someone wants to get filthy rich, that’s their right; if they want to take a vow of poverty, that’s their right as well. Government exists to protect the rights of the people, not fulfill their dreams.

I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator.
Neither can anyone who studies history. The South had every right to secede. With the South’s loss, unrestrained federal tyranny became the order of the day.

I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.
And if you’re not smart enough to tell the difference?

I don’t take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won’t find a job in my White House.
We shall see. Apparently the unions own Democrats. A union isn’t a lobby, is it?

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
Shorthand: nobody’s perfect. A good liberal always focuses on America’s flaws because he can’t sell a vacuum without first soiling the carpet.

I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It should be repealed and I will vote for its repeal on the Senate floor. I will also oppose any proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gays and lesbians from marrying.
How did this guy get elected?

I think when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody.
It’s good for everybody except the people you stole it from in the name of ‘fairness’, comrade.

If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists – to protect them and to promote their common welfare – all else is lost.
People should never trust their government if they want to remain free. The Constitution was written to protect us from government, not provide a welfare state.

If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.
More fortune cookie blandness. The punkass speechwriter must’ve had a hangover.

In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?
How about the politics of FREEDOM?

Issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.
Very rarely have you discussed ANY of the issues.

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.
A “better” future is questionable with socialists infesting Washington. The looting of future generations is not in doubt.

It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Better they cling to the wise elite that run Big Government. They’ve got ALL the answers!

John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.
Or being a gigolo. Then again it’s probably very hard work staying married to Teresa Heinz.

Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.
According to liberals, taxpayer money is the answer to every problem, including the many problems they create in the first place.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.
Your job is to fufill the duties of the President. Washington sucks.

My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.America is “tolerant” when activist crybabies get their way but “intolerant” when they don’t. Do-gooder liberals often end up being the barrier to success.

No one is pro-abortion.
Except the women who have abortions.

Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terrorism have reduced the pace of military transformation and have revealed our lack of preparation for defensive and stability operations. This Administration has overextended our military.
To the contrary, the wars have sharpened our military, freed Iraq, put the talibastards on the run and there hasn’t been an attack on American soil since 9-11-01. You should do as well.

Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.
That’s what you get for letting Heinz write your speeches. Next you’ll be telling us you’re New New Deal program s are A-1.

People of Berlin – people of the world – this is our moment. This is our time.
The way Democrats rig elections, the people of Berlin probably did vote for the One!

Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow.
Wait a minute, those places are outside of the United States! According to liberals we’re not supposed to interfere!

The Bush Administration’s failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world.
The greatest nightmare for the fictional people known as “Palestinians” is to have their own land. They would then be proven in the eyes of the world as incapable of running a fruit stand, much less a nation.
Israel still exists while surrounded by enemies on every side. Let’s hope Barack’s naive worldview doesn’t aid those enemies.
The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.Perhaps the drive-by, arch-liberal, ultra-left-wing, shill activist media singing your undeserved praise at all hours during the election had something to do with it?

The thing about hip-hop today is it’s smart, it’s insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.
Then why didn’t RAP yo’ way to the White House, O Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers?

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
The only real patriots today oppose the size of the federal leviathan and realize government is the problem.

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America – there’s the United States of America.

You couldn’t be more wrong, and your party is the one that promotes hyphen-tribes over just plain Americans.

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many.
Translation: free markets created wealth, now it’s government’s time to plunder that wealth for its own nefarious purposes.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.
The planet can take care of itself. Who will save us from communist retreads?

Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction.
If a terrorist succeeds in his mission because you failed to waterboard the plans out of him, you have failed in every way, including morally.

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation – not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.
Liberals think the Declaration and Constitution are great as long as they can alter or ignore it.

We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen. Welcome back, Jimmy Carter! May you be blessed with the same number of terms as your mentor.

We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. Wait, do you mean in Iraq…or here in Amerika?

We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible. According to the Constitution, the federal government has NO authority whatsoever to provide education to the people. The entire government school system is a criminal fraud and haven for half-wits, slackers and eager educrats seeking to “shape young minds” with pro-government indoctrination. They are the real Matrix. Eff you and have a nice day.

We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they must be defeated. America’s real enemies are now to be found in the White house, Supreme Court, and Congress. They are the real enemies of liberty and the American Way of Life, which does not include a massive, tyrannical government.
We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old – and that’s the criterion by which I’ll be selecting my judges. Here’s an idea, how about judges who understand and interpret the LAW and don’t try to rewrite it on the fly with despicable activism?

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

Bill and Ted would disagree. And government is not a repository of excellence, it’s a habanero suppository of incompetence.

We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.

Please to not pet the irony of this drivel, it will chew your arm off. The government is the primary source for rewarding indolence and sloth. People reaching their full potential? Hint: if they choose to work for government, they’re not trying.

We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.
The so-called “uniter” speaks against the idea of two Americas, then validates the concept with this twaddle.

We’re not going to baby sit a civil war.

Here Barry means Iraq. But when his communist policies kick in, he may give birth to one in the USA!

What Washington needs is adult supervision.
What Americans need is less Washington and more liberty.

When we think of the major threats to our national security, the first to come to mind are nuclear proliferation, rogue states and global terrorism. But another kind of threat lurks beyond our shores, one from nature, not humans – an avian flu pandemic.

The idiots from both sides are letting illegals flood this country, bringing tuberculosis and even leprosy with them. So much for giving a damn about Americans’ health and safety.

Where the stakes are the highest, in the war on terror, we cannot possibly succeed without extraordinary international cooperation. Effective international police actions require the highest degree of intelligence sharing, planning and collaborative enforcement.
And if we received NO international cooperation, would Barack still have the courage to protect and defend the United States against islamofascists? Right now, My Sources Say No.

Why can’t I just eat my waffle?
Because you’re running for President, jerk.

With the changing economy, no one has lifetime employment. But community colleges provide lifetime employability.
When you finish the infomercial, can you get back to issues people besides the deans of community colleges care about?

You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt.

Are you referring to your faith in Big Government? If so, I agree.

I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.
Now that America’s made a mistake it will be PUNISHED WITH OBAMA.

Theresa Heinz Kerry's Pumpkin Spice Cookies (left) competes against Laura Bush's Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies (right). It's 2004 all over again.

For the next two weeks leading up to election Day, the ModernDomestic will be reviewing our eight favorite presidential cookie recipes, and picking the best of the bunch. Check out yesterday’s entry for the battle between Martha Washington’s Shrewsbury cakes and Mary Todd Lincoln ’s Gingerbread Men.

For Part Two of the Modern Domestic Presidential Cookie Bake-Off, I couldn’t resist digging up Teresa Heinz Kerry’s Pumpkin Spice Cookie recipe from 2004 and seeing how it stacked up against Laura Bush’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Heinz-Kerry caught a lot of heat in the 2004 elections for her Pumpkin Spice Cookie recipe, first because the Family Circle readers didn’t like them, and then because she said the recipe actually wasn’t hers. According to her, the first recipe she submitted to the Family Circle for Yummy Wonders (worst name ever) was rejected because it didn’t work, and someone from the campaign submitted the Pumpkin Spice Cookie recipe without consulting her. Personally, I find that kind of hard to believe. In any event, she disowned the recipe, telling the New York Times, “I never made pumpkin cookies; I don’t like pumpkin spice cookies.”

Laura Bush, on the other hand, submitted a variation on a standard oatmeal cookie. Her Oatmeal-Chocolate Chunk Cookies are a smorgasbord of ingredients, including sour cherries, walnuts, and chocolate chunks. Bush won the 2004 bake off, meaning that the Family Circle contest has correctly predicted the election winner for the past four years (although apparently the big secret to winning is chocolate).

Determined to get to the bottom of the matter, I procured both of the recipes from the Family Circle Web site. The recipes follow at the end of the entry.

Teresa Heinz Kerry’s Pumpkin Spice Cookies:
Given all the complaints about these cookies and Heinz-Kerry’s comments that the recipe was bad on purpose to sabotage her (um, paranoid much?), I expected these to be awful. But I was pleasantly surprised. The cookies are almost like muffin tops; they’re made with baking powder and have a soft, cake-like texture. I really liked how the cinnamon complemented the pumpkin flavor, and the raisins and walnuts added an appealing texture. Since I was serving these for guests I did make one change—I added a simply powdered sugar glaze, which I think complemented the cookies nicely by adding a bit more texture and an extra hit of sweetness. They marry well with a glass of tea, milk, or a good Oktoberfest brew.

Obviously, if you don’t like pumpkin then you’re not going to like these cookies, but that doesn’t make this a bad recipe. But was it a great recipe? No. I think it made a very serviceable pumpkin cookie, but I wasn’t blown away by them. They became a little clammy after a couple of days, so they’re best eaten right after they’re made.

Laura Bush’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Thanks God I only made a half batch because this recipe make a lot of cookies. Even though I made the cookies considerably larger than the recipe calls for, I still ended up with around two dozen. I also made a substitution; since chocolate chunks were twice as expensive as chocolate chips, I substituted chocolate chips and saved myself $4. I don’t think this significantly altered the final product.

There were mixed feelings about these cookies. I served both kinds to several guests, and many of them preferred these because they liked the chocolate. At first, I felt that they had way too much going on. The chocolate and the cinnamon and the sour cherries and the walnuts and the oatmeal meant that the cookies had so many competing flavors that didn’t quite meld. I would have omitted the cinnamon—I felt that it didn’t marry well with the cherries, and ended up being distracting.

Still, I admit that these really grew on me. After a couple of days, they were the cookies I was craving, rather than the pumpkin spice cookies. I really liked the slightly chewy, slightly crunchy texture, and I think that if you just omitted the cinnamon, cherries and walnuts, they would be a perfect oatmeal-chocolate chip cookie.

The winner: Laura Bush’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies (by a hair)
This was a difficult call. After reviewing the responses with WonkthePlank, we agreed that our tasters were equally split between the two cookies. I chose Laura Bush’ because I think that the basic cookie recipe was actually a better recipe than the Heinz-Kerry cookie. The texture was perfect , the proportion of oats to flour was perfect, and if you just cut out the walnuts and sour cherries, then it would have been a really perfect cookie.

I also asked myself the question: which one would I make again? And, in my heart of hearts, it would be the Laura Bush cookie, granted, with some alterations. Now I feel like I’m a bad democrat.

Teresa Heinz Kerry’s Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (from a 15-ounce can; do not use pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degree F. Coat two large baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

2. With electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in egg, pumpkin and vanilla.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Stir in chopped walnuts and raisins.

4. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake at 375 degree F for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden on edges. Cool on wire racks.

Laura Bush’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups light-brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups quick cook oats (not old-fashioned)
2 cups chopped walnuts
1-1/2 packages (8 ounces each) chocolate chunks (3 cups)
2 cups coarsely chopped dried sour cherries

1. Heat oven to 350 degree F. Line 2 large baking pans with parchment paper.

2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then beat in vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats; slowly beat until blended.

3. Stir in walnuts, chocolate and cherries. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.

4. Bake at 350 degree F for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on pan on wire rack for 1 minute. Transfer cookies directly to racks to cool completely.

I’m so relieved the chance of me getting a j-o-b-s next summer seems a bit more realistic now that Joe the Plumber has done a little eye-opening for the nation. That is to say, if McCain gets elected, taxes won’t go up, businesses won’t go down, bosses will still be hiring.

And as always that bit of relief was provided by the Gaffemeister Joe Biden, whose experimental-level invented spelling gives us new reason to trust our own instincts against a guy whose knowledge of television history is apparently no better than Katie Couric’s. (Reminder: Couric is a televison anchor who doesn’t seem to know when the medium was invented.)

OK, let’s give credit where credit due. Biden at least tries to know when to keep his mouth shut.

I’ve been able to perk up thanks to Dr. Jim. Of course his job was made easier by the fact that I don’t have TV, but the advice to “get outta here” was well heeded. I fell asleep and when I came to there was no Joe anywhere. In fact, thinking back on it, I hadn’t heard about him for days. Was it because he is hidden away, or has the debate simply taken over the waves? Whatever the reason, he’s gone. And I sort of miss him.

Remember the days when Teresa Heinz Kerry used to say things like “shove it” and pass judgments about what constitutes a “real” job? Now we have Michelle Obama providing the entertainment as she reminds us how her husband will rescue us from our pathetic lives–although she, too, has been kept under wraps for a while. And the Obama campaign has been relying on the media toxicity Treacher references to do us in while we have nothing to diffuse it–no Teresa, no Joe, no Michelle. For awhile we had Alaskan weaponry that kept the infection at bay, but then it renewed its attack with every bit of determined-to-decimate power it had, and the one by one went inhabitants of the blogosphere and real life in some sort of Malthusian population control probably viewed by those on the left as providential. Not only were they ruthless, but also delighted.

Biden had been providing the standup to get us through those trying moments, but they may have realized he was the unwitting antidote because then suddenly he was gone. We were left flailing and sinking until someone finally said, “Get a grip.” And enter Joe the Plumber, who questioned the Dear Leader without flinching an eye; he may be the subject of folk songs currently being written, and things seem to be looking up. Ace seems to be making a nice recovery (while not getting giddy) and although I had my doubts about Allah, he appears to be trying.

Of course, the real answer will come 4 November and until then Joe’s cape design will be on hold since the left will be obliged to go through his trash, but I can safely say that even if the polls don’t read as I’d like them to, I have good reasons to believe they won’t result in the onset of buboes: 1) lies anyway; 2) PUMAs; and 3) that cold turkey bit was a godsend.

In the meantime, I’m hoping they’ll slip up and send the Gaffemeister out again, perhaps deluded by some idea they usually have that the debate for them was a smashing success and nationwide recognition of the racism inherent in every single word coming from our mouths (fingertips) only discredits us. Since they perceive ordinary Americans to be very stupid, they probably don’t believe that “95% of taxpayers” eventually starts to ring bells with these people, sort of in the same way as when an agency claims “100%” results. Even a five year old recognizes on some level that homogenous thought is not natural: a few days ago, while engaging in gross exaggeration I said something about “everybody” parading around in love with Obama; overhearing me my son replied, “Well, not everybody.”

Well, if McCain wins, I suppose we have liberal rage to look forward to–you know, Susan Sarandon-type attacks, more whinging about “stolen” states and of course there probably will always be those only too willing to disgrace themselves in public via their intellectual “wit.” (Think black shirts with neon green letters.) I wonder if Joe will be toddling along for the ride or still chasing after people with his idiotic, fomenting spit. Och well, no worries. It was medicinal while it was needed, but hopefully I can move on to missing his charm about as much as I miss what-I-probably-am-not-allowed-to-say-because-it-is-racist.

PS: Sign of Ace’s further recovery.

Wednesday night, two speakers at this year’s Democratic National Convention made the same telling mistake.  First there was this from John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic Nominee for President:

The stakes could not be higher, because we do know what a Bush — what a McCain administration would look like. There’s a slip. (Laughter.) It would look just like the past, just like George Bush, and this country can’t afford a third Bush term.

That was followed shortly thereafter by this from Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware), the newly minted 2008 Democratic Nominee for Vice President:

You know, folks, that’s the America that George Bush has left us. And that’s the America we’ll continue to get if George — excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of the United States of America. Freudian slip. Freudian slip.

It’s clear they hate the guy, but they do realize he’s constitutionally barred from a third term, right?  Right?

Only failing campaigns try to win the last election, and that’s what it appears the Democrats are trying to do.  So great is the desire to reverse the course set by George W. Bush, that one half expects Doc Brown to fly into Denver in a suped up DeLaurean to carry the Democrats back to 2000 and erase the Bush Administration from existence.

They appear not to have an agenda beyond undoing what Bush has done.  Bush went into Iraq, Democrats want out of it.  Bush cut taxes, Democrats want to restore them.  Bush imposed school accountability, Democrats want to relax it. So on and so forth. 

Is that an agenda?  As dissatisfied as the nation has become with the incumbent, is insulting them for the choice they twice made advisable?  As ready as they are for the next administration, is being against something as compelling to voters as being for something?

If an I’m-not-Bush campaign were going to succeed, Teresa Heinz Kerry would be having fittings for her next Inaugural gown.  Can it really succeed now, when it failed in 2004? 

Americans eventually turned away from Bush when, in 2006, they elected Democratic majorities to both houses in Congress. They chose a degree of change then and don’t appear very pleased with it now.  Bush’s term may have produced the “abismal” record Biden claims, but at 19 percent approval, is the Democratic Congress doing much better?  

Americans in 2008 seem less concerned with change than with actions.  As impressed as they may be with rhetoric, they appear to prefer results.  The first party or candidate to define not just a series of policy outcomes meaningful to the lives of Americans, but a course of action to achieve them, will win.  So far, it’s not convincing that the Democratic Party is offering it.

From Politico:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

“I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. “It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”

(audio at link above)

Original DVD cover.

The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.

And a Politico analysis later in the day found McCain’s family owns at least eight properties, according to property and tax records, as well as interviews.

In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle — a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

…snip…

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico’s Ben Smith that it was McCain “who wears $500 shoes, has six houses and comes from one of the richest families in his state.”

…snip…

McCain’s comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5 million — a careless comment he quickly corrected.

In the interview, McCain did not offer an alternate number, but had a new answer ready.
“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

McCain, by anyone’s measure, is well-off, if you account for his wife’s fortune. Cindy McCain inherited control of her father’s beer distributorship, the largest in Arizona, and has an estimated worth of more than $100 million.

If you would like to see where poor little Cindy Lou grew up, there’s a picture here.

Now, kids, I know that a lot of people think the important point of this story is that Captain Underpants and Cindy Lou are out-of-touch elitists who have no idea how the great unwashed are struggling in this economy. They are wrong. The most important thing to take away from this is that Captain Underpants doesn’t know how to count!! That also explains this, from ABC News:

In a presidential race marked by references to preparedness in the face of the 3 a.m. call, the revelation that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has taken the sleeping pill Ambien during his travels raises concerns that the rare side effects of the medication could impair his judgment.

See, kids? He has to take Ambien, because he can’t count sheep!!

The would-be First Lady of the 2004 election cycle was often the target of criticism for her off-the-cuff remarks on the campaign trail, and for her support of left wing advocacy groups. So much so, in fact, that The H.J. Heinz Co. sent out 50 letters to news organizations to “squash rumors circulating on the Internet and radio talk shows that it is involved with Mr. Kerry’s campaign.” [link]

In 2004, she changed her name from Teresa Heinz to Teresa Heinz Kerry during the campaign. After Kerry’s defeat, she changed her name back to Teresa Heinz, and has quietly faded back into affluent obscurity

The video below is currently being aired overseas. Is this agenda-driven advocacy or is it just clever marketing?

That it is not being run in the U.S. suggests the former. Of course, in this election cycle, I can’t imagine the DNC would knowingly allow the carefully manicured image of their candidate to be pulled into the culture wars with such a provocative commercial sponsored, at least indirectly, by the spouse of their former standard-bearer.

Despite the recent ruling by the California Supreme Court, and the resulting flood of homosexual marriages, the Religious Right has been largely silent in this election cycle. I suspect the Dems would just as soon leave a sleeping giant alone.

h/t: WP Dashboard, via IMWT. Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, 123beta, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Stuck On Stupid, Cao’s Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Pet’s Garden Blog, Allie is Wired, third world county, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, CORSARI D’ITALIA, , and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

From Salon:

Numerous media outlets have articles Wednesday speculating about how Republicans will attempt to skewer the spouse of the presumptive Democratic nominee during the general election campaign. In her column for the New York Times, Maureen Dowd wrote, “It’s good news for Obama that Hillary’s out of the race. But it’s also bad news. Now Republicans can turn their full attention to demonizing Michelle Obama.”

Snip:

Last week, on his blog Ragged Thots, Robert A. George (a conservative who also writes for the New York Post) pointed out a distinct trend. Based on the presidential elections of the past 20 years, George says, the question is not if Republicans will go after Michelle Obama, but when. George writes of the alleged “whitey” tape: “No tape exists … This is the ‘08 version of a really weird conservative urban legend that pops up every four years. The names change, but the basics remain the same: 1) It always involves the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate; 2) it always portrays the wife — not the candidate — committing some anti-American, unpatriotic act.”

In 1988, Idaho Sen. Steve Symms claimed that photographs existed of Kitty Dukakis burning a flag at an antiwar protest. No such photos ever emerged and Dukakis denied the charge.

In 2004, John Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, grabbed headlines for her altercation with a Pittsburgh conservative editorial writer who said she had used the term “un-American” in a speech. Kerry denied that she had used the phrase and told the writer to “shove it.” Right-wing Web sites like World Net Daily also propagated unfounded rumors that Heinz Kerry had links to terrorists.

And then, of course, there’s the long history of the fractious relationship Republicans have had with Hillary Clinton. So what does all this mean for 2008? Even though the “whitey” tape most likely does not exist (the rumor was originally floated by a Clinton supporter, blogger Larry Johnson), we’ll probably hear more about it as the campaign progresses. And if that rumor is forgotten, another one will probably emerge to fill the space. ‘Tis the season, after all.

Michelle is going to be a target, but it’s important to remember that she isn’t the first potential First Lady to be attacked unfairly. It’s part of a pattern.

Michelle no more can be seen in a video condemning ‘whitey’ than Kitty Dukakis burned the American flag or Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster.

But the shit is coming. Get ready.

Why do I have full confidence that the Obama team will deal well with these smears?

Dizem que há 3 maneiras de tornar-se rico:

1. Nascendo rico;
2. Ganhando na Loteria;
3. Casando com uma mulher rica

Se voce não conseguir realizar as alternativas 1 e 2, você pode tentar a 3 e escolher as mulheres mais ricas do mundo para se casar, abaixo fiz uma lista através de informações do site The Forbes e coloquei uma classificação ao lado, por favor respeitem meu trabalho, se copiarem favor citar o Blog.

• Liliane Bettencourt (Francesa) $22.9 bilhões de dólares – creedo !

• Begunham Dogan Faralyali (Turca) $1 bilhão de dólares – boa , é essa aqui do canto ->

• Cristina Green (Reino Unido) $8.4 bilhões de dólares – não pegava nem pagando !

• Hind Hariri (Libanesa) $1.1 bilhões de dólares – muito boa -> CréééU !

• Heidi Horten (Austríaca) $3.7 bilhões – Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! Socorro !

• Yang Huiyan (Chinesa) $7.4 bilhões de dólares – parece os trabucos do Ronaldo !

• Abigail Johnson (Americana) $15bilhões de dólares – ahhhn !?

• Teresa Heinz Kerry (Americana) $1 bilhão de dólares – viúva feia !

• Alicia Koplowitz (Espanhola) $5.2 bilhões de dólares – cara de drogada mas é marquesa!

• Esther Koplowitz (Espanhola) $3.3 bilhões boazinha Ebaaa ! Até quem fim !

• J.K. Rowling (Reino Unido) $1 bilhão – escritora de Harry Potter vai ser coisa boa ?

• Meg Whitman (Americana) $1.3 bilhões – Aaaaaaaaaaaaah ! Perigo, Perigo, Perigo !

• Oprah Winfrey (Americana) $2.5 bilhões de dólares – Comestível

• Zhang Xin (Chinesa) $3 bilhões -> +/- mas já tá casada… você é ciumento ?

_____________________________

E aí, quer conferir de perto ? Cuidado !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As imagens contidas de algumas mulheres no site a seguir podem assustar até Chuck Norris !

Desseja prosseguir ? [ Abre em uma nova janela ! ]

• [SIM] -> Eu avisei !
• [NÃO] -> Bom Menino !

April 18 (Bloomberg) — John McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, reported $405,409 in income last year and paid $118,660 in federal taxes, according to tax returns made public today. He gave $105,467 to charity, the records show.

His campaign didn’t release tax returns for his wife, Cindy, who is chairman of the Phoenix-based Hensley & Co., one of the largest beer distributors in the U.S.

Original DVD cover.

“My wife and I, we have separate incomes, we have a prenuptial agreement, and her business is her business,” McCain said in an interview. “I have never been involved in it since before I ran for the Congress of the United States, so I just feel that she has a right to a separate tax return.”

Yeah, it’s not like he barbecues at any of those mansions she owns or anything!

The disclosure of tax information has become an issue in the presidential campaign. Illinois Senator Barack Obama released his tax information in March and then pressured his rival for the Democratic nomination, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, to disclose her tax records. She did so on April 4.

…snip…

McCain’s income came from his $161,708 Senate salary, $23,157 in Social Security benefits, $176,508 in book royalties and a Navy pension. The remaining income comes from a share of his wife’s income which, under Arizona’s community property law, he must claim.

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said making Cindy McCain’s tax information public would violate the privacy of their two children who are still claimed as dependents.

Does anyone else smell something?

The Associated Press estimated this month that Cindy McCain is worth more than $100 million based on the value of her late father’s stake in Hensley & Co.

In 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry disclosed a portion of the tax returns of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, heir to a $500 million fortune, three weeks before the election.

Hazelbaker said Cindy McCain’s situation differs from Teresa Heinz Kerry’s because she asserted that Kerry’s wealth helped fund her husband’s campaign and Cindy McCain hasn’t loaned her husband money.

…snip…

Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the failure to release Cindy McCain’s returns shouldn’t fly with voters because transparency has been “a signature issue for John McCain,” and not releasing her information smacks of hypocrisy.

…snip…

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean also assailed McCain — ranked last fall by Roll Call newspaper as the ninth richest member of Congress — for not releasing his wife’s taxes and for making public only two years of returns. He said McCain was “releasing less information about his tax returns than any other candidate since Ronald Reagan,” continuing “a troubling pattern of thinking the rules don’t apply to him.”

The Clintons’ tax information goes back three decades; the Obamas have released eight years.

…snip…

Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, said releasing Cindy McCain’s tax returns wouldn’t violate the children’s privacy because details of investments affecting them would be on forms filed by a separate trust.

“They’re playing it both ways,” Ochsenschlager said. “They’re splitting the income, income that you would have anticipated, but not showing you their passive income.” Given Cindy McCain’s wealth, he said, “they have some passive income somewhere they’re not showing.”

From the Los Angeles Times:

The McCains own four homes across the nation and employ a staff of at least four that in 2007 cost about $273,000, half of which was listed on the senator’s tax return. McCain and his wife’s properties, all held mortgage-free, include their creek-side ranch outside Sedona, Ariz. In 2006, they purchased a $4.7-million condo in Phoenix; and in 2004, she bought a $2.6-million beachfront property near the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego County, according to property records.

Despite the large real estate holdings and his wife’s business empire, the senator appears to own few income-producing assets individually. In 2007, he reported interest income of just $48 and dividends of $74.

…snip…

Asked whether his wife was supporting him, McCain’s campaign staff offered a separate income calculation for 2007 showing that the senator’s surplus income after expenses amounted to about $64,000 and suggested that he was providing for himself.

By contrast, Cindy McCain reported assets of more than $1 million in a single Chase Bank account and assets of up to $1 million in each of about three dozen accounts and investments, according to a 2006 Senate financial disclosure report.

Cindy McCain inherited ownership of Hensley & Co., said to be the nation’s third-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor with sales estimated at $178 million, from her late father, James Hensley, according to financial information company Dun & Bradstreet.

I don’t know what did more damage to Kerry’s campaign, the swiftboat thing or Teresa Heinz Kerry.

As if she didn’t embarrass her husband enough when he ran for president and lost in 2004, the Obamas have now enlisted Teresa Heinz Kerry to campaign on their behalf.  Just a reminder of what we’ve been missing the last four years:

Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, urged home-state delegates from Pennsylvania to restore a more civil tone to American politics in a speech Sunday night.

“We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics,” Heinz Kerry said during a reception at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

Minutes later, in an exchange that was captured on camera by Channel 4 Action News anchor Scott Baker and his photographer, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter Colin McNickle asked Heinz Kerry what she meant by the term “un-American activity.”

Heinz Kerry told McNickle, “I didn’t say that,” and asked him why he was putting words in her mouth. When he again asked the question, she responded, “I didn’t say ‘activity’ or ‘un-American,’” and turned away to speak with Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Shortly after their first exchange, Heinz Kerry went up to McNickle and asked if he worked for the Trib. He said he did, and she replied, “Of course.” When he tried to question her again, she said, “You said something I didn’t say. Now shove it.”

Which is worse… a first lady who emplores others to practice civility while she goes on the attack or one who has never been proud of America in her adult life?

And I thought I was the only one calling her that, but no, John Hawkins over at RightWingNews picked up on it too. Today Michelle shows a bit more of her disdain for America by making us sound like some sort of third-world country.

I would like to propose a few new laws; 1) If you went to an Ivy League college, you do not get to bitch about the price of a college education 2) If you were either born wealthy or have been wealthy for more than 10 years, you do not get to bitch about the price of healthcare, inflation, or pensions. Someone should elect me to Congress.

Amnesty for over 20 million illegal aliens will kill the Republican Party 

Written by Tony Dolz 

In the unlikely event that John McCain gets elected president, he will be the last Republican president. 

He will finish the job of keeping the Republican Party divided over spending, privacy, the war; and open borders/immigration law enforcement. Secondarily, McCain will give amnesty to 20+ million illegal aliens that will register Democrat at the end of the McCain-Kennedy earned path to citizenship.

After McCain-Kennedy give suffrage to the illegal aliens the Republican Party as we know it will die.

 Welcome to the one party system in America. The McCain-Kennedy Party. 

The Republican Party was established in 1854 by anti-slavery activists and reformers who elected Abraham Lincoln as its first president. The early Republicans knew right from wrong and were strongly influenced by their faith in the creator.  

To this day, Republicans stand for a fundamental believe in the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Republicans for generations have echoed the sentiments of the founding fathers and the independence minded citizens of the American colonies.  

Colonists passionately sought individual freedom and to them that meant small limited government – government by the people.  Never again would they cow to tyrants. Early Americans believed the proposed national government would best be kept in check and stunted from government’s inherent tendency to grow and encroach on individual freedom.  The formula for limited government included limiting its power to tax, enumerating the limited powers given to it and reserving all other powers to the states and to the people.  

The Constitution served to formalize the relationship between the states and the new federal government. To ensure that future generations would not forget, important individual civil liberties were etched in the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights ensured for all times the rights; not of the states, but of the individual citizens. True patriots and Republicans still share the same core beliefs.  Some Republicans like Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter carry a pocket size copy of the U.S. Constitution in their person; and their speeches and legislation emerge from thoughts peeled from its pages. 

In 2001 Senator John McCain of Arizona was riddled with doubt about whether or not he still believed in the Republican Party.  It must have been as painful a period for him as it would be for a person of faith to be tormented by doubts about the faith. Directly and indirectly he approached key Democrat party icons, people that he admired, to test the waters. In the Republican Party he enjoyed a commanding respect for his war service and this gave him a high profile and power. Would he command the same leverage if he switched to the Democrat Party, or would he be a subordinate shadow to the likes of Ted Kennedy? 

We will never know for sure why McCain remained a Republican. Given his self-assured determination and pugnacious nature it would not be inconceivable that he may have set out instead to change the Republican Party into his own image. Republican or not, Senator McCain has formidably strong ties to Democrat leaders and to influential contributors to Democratic causes. 

What is irrefutable is that also in 2001 John McCain developed a soft spot in his heart for a slew of liberal to very liberal super rich donors; and that the crown jewel of those donors was a man with a mission to transform the world, the infamous and super rich George Soros.  

John McCain established the Reform Institute, based in Alexandria, Virginia, as a vehicle to receive funds from his rich liberal friends and to bring about political reform with a definite tilt to the left. Lo and behold, the Reform Institute was housed at the same location as McCain’s re-election committee (Friends of John McCain),” his Straight Talk America PAC, and “his adviser’s lobbying firm” Davis, Manafort & Freedman, Inc.

You can spot the usual suspects and the McCain Soros agenda at their website, http://www.reforminstitute.org 

Liberal, One World and Global Warming wacko Donors to Reform Institute 

Among the active members and super donors to the Reform Institute one can easily uncover from its donor page the following ultra-leftists luminaries (I invite you to look up these folks if you are not familiar with them.  A word of warning, it is not going to be pleasant for Republican Kook Aid drinkers): 

Mr. William Bloomfield
Carnegie Corporation of New York
CSC Holdings, Inc.
Echosphere
The Educational Foundation of America
The JEHT Foundation
Mr. Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. Revocable Trust
McMullen Family Foundation
OSI Constitution & Legal Policy Program (George Soros)
Proteus Fund
Mr. Charles H. Spaulding
Stuart Family Foundation
Tides Foundation (Teresa Heinz Kerry)
American International Group Inc 

Among the issues supported by the Reform Institute are: 

1. Integration of Canada, USA and Mexican economies, including borderless cheap labor movement
2. McCain-Feingold Fundraising Reform with 1^stAmendment Muzzle
3. McCain-Lieberman Global Warming Carbon Regulating Bureaucracy and 50 cent per gallon tax
4. McCain-Lieberman Gun Restrictions Endorsed by Michael Barnes, president of Handgun Control
5. McCain-Soros-Bush Open-Borders, Massive Global Trading Blocks vs. National sovereignty
6. McCain-Kennedy Amnesty to 20+ million illegal aliens eager for citizenship and voting Democrat
7. McCain-Teresa Heinz opposition to marriage exclusive to man and woman
8. McCain-Democratic Party opposition to tax-cuts. Quote: Tax-cut for the Rich, McCain
9. McCain-Liberal establishment assortment of positions and contributions from the usual suspects

Arianna Huffington, the well known ultra-liberal commentator has been on the Board from day one.

 The Reform Institute has served John McCain as a source of stealth salaries for McCain staffers and supporters some of which then worked pro-bono for his election campaign. 

The most repugnant of those stealthily getting a paycheck from George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry to service McCain’s agenda is Juan Hernandez, his Hispanic Outreach Director. 

Juan Hernandez is an unregistered foreign agent of elitists in Mexico who now is supplementing his day job with serving John McCain and getting a paycheck from George Soros. This is the same George Soros that undermines Republican Party interests from the Soros funded MoveOn.org.  

Juan Hernandez served in Mexican President Fox’s cabinet and his job was to ensure that Mexican citizens illegally in the United States were helped and protected so that they could send back to Mexico $26 billion in foreign remittances while at the same time alleviate Mexico’s problem of dealing with their unemployed and avoid the civil disorders that those millions of unemployed could cause.   

Although his words and actions parallel those of the Mexican Government, a government that he served as a cabinet member, a search at the Foreign Agents Registration Act website fails to find this name as “registered” (http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara/).  This must simply be an oversight in his part. 

Juan Hernandez has lobbied the House and the Senate on approving the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bills (that is his American play nice side) while at the same time, in his addresses to Mexican nationals legally and illegally in the United States, he tells them that he wants them to think Mexico first to the 7^th generation. See these CNN and Fox News video interviews.

 Juan Hernandez is McCain’s Mexican Outreach Director 

(a)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75s_IuX1f6Y&NR=1 

(b)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIK9ZawRMlg&NR=1

(c)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i7dyp_nK_Q 

It is insane for any country to allow 20+ million illegal aliens into the country where 80% of them are from a country that has taught its children for more than 100 years that it was territorial claims over the Southwest of the United States. 

You ask yourself how important is it for Mexico to send its illiterate, sickly, unemployed citizens to the Unites States?  Wonder no more.  Mexico spends over $100 million annually lobbying Congress for open borders, “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” (Amnesty).  The Mexican government policies encourage the demographic re-conquest of the Southwestern United States lost under the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty of 1848. 

The $26 billion that illegal aliens Mexicans send home is more than double the $11 billion the Mexican government earns in export sales of oil (remarkable for a major oil producing country). 

Mexican cartels control $140 billion in drug trafficking at our Southern border.  Their sales volume would make them America’s fifth largest corporation.  The cartels rely on drug addicted American’s to help them sell drugs to other drug addicts and to seduce our children into slavery.  The Mexican government uses a similar technique.  It relies on elitists trans-national cheap labor profiteers like Tyson Foods and Bill Gates to help sell the idea of open borders and massive legal and illegal cheap labor to Congress.  The profiteers buy influence for themselves (they are addicted to cheap labor) and in the process Mexico and illegal aliens advance their cause. 

Our Congress is also for sale.  Our elected representatives are addicted to dredging for campaign money and the Mexican government is more than happy to help.  If you are interest in reading more about the Mexican long term lobbying objectives and methods, visit this Mexican government website and read.  “Lobbying in the United States: Challenges and Opportunities for Mexico”,  http://www.consejomexicano.org/download.php?id=413382,1082,11 

Pay close attention to the intertwining interests of foreign government lobbying, fund raising, criminal cartels and businesses all served by open borders and cheap legal and illegal labor.   

One such example is the ethno-centric group Mexican Americans Thinking Together (MATT).  MATT was founded by Lionel Sosa, (a media strategist who is credited with delivering nearly half of the Hispanic vote to President Bush in the previous presidential race.  In a press conference held by MATT in Las Vegas in January, it was revealed that a consortium of business interests, which he refused to name, will contribute $100 million to lobby and conduct public relations campaigns.  Representatives from the construction, lodging, agricultural and banking sectors, as well as from churches, grass-roots groups and both political parties, gathered to review the ads and finalize their strategy.  They work together like “family”. 

Mr. Sosa, 68 years old, in 1980 founded the agency Sosa Bromley Aguilar, which specialized in advertising to Hispanic consumers, selling it in 1990.  Matt.org — based in Mr. Sosa’s hometown of San Antonio — employs three advertising strategists who worked with him at the agency.  Among them is Cesar Martinez, who in 2002 created ad campaigns targeting Hispanics for Jeb Bush’s Florida gubernatorial campaign and Rick Perry’s Texas governor’s race. 

Momentum is gaining.  Millions of Mexican illegal aliens have demonstrated in the streets of American many of them carrying signs reminding us that they are not trespassing, that they are not here illegally, that they are simply home.  

It is not unrealistic to think that one day when the number of foreign nationals with a territorial claim over the United States reaches a critical mass, that our children and their grandchildren may be scourged by a civil war that we could have prevented. If you think this is not realistic, think about Lebanon, Kosovo and some many other countries and territories were territorial claims divide the people. 

President Bush’s open borders policies are opposed by an overwhelming number of Americans. In 2006 millions of Americans joined organizations that oppose open borders and through peaceful campaigns defeated every McCain-Kennedy-Bush amnesty bill that came up the House and Senate.  

George Bush’s stubborn dismissal of calls for secure borders, enforcement of immigration laws, the invasion of our privacy, overspending and the war sank his public support to abysmally low levels.

McCain is committed to a continuation of Bush policies. When asked on the campaign trail if he would vote for his McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill if it were to come up today, his answer is YES. 

There is no mystery why John McCain is the presumptive presidential candidate. Unfortunately, the rank and file Republicans are voting by NOT contributing to the Republican National Committee and NOT contributing to the State Party Organizations. The RNC telemarketers were fired because contributions could not justify their salaries. One hears similar reports from many states and counties.  

Millions did NOT vote for McCain or any the other major presidential candidates anointed by the Party in the electioneering leading to the nomination convention. 

On Super Tuesday 14.6 million Democrats turned out to vote and only 8.3 million Republicans bothered. 

The McCain victories are vacuous because millions of disaffected Republican refused to participate because of open borders amnesty candidates in both parties.  

Congress’s approval rating is as low as 11% and the president’s is equally low. McCain is a continuation of George Bush policies.  Many Republicans are saying let’s open up the convention for a true airing of the issues; or I am out of here!

McCain was the co-author of the two McCain-Kennedy amnesty bills.  The second time around he knowingly conspired with Bush and key Democrats and open borders, cheap labor lobbyists in secret until less than 24 hours before springing the bill on the Senate floor.  He conspired with 13 Senators, called the gang of 14, who took a vow of secrecy not to discuss the secret negotiations with the media or the members of the Senate. The Gang of 14, led by McCain, did as pledged and held the line and voted against every and any amendment that would stop the amnesty bill.  It was a disgraceful spectacle to watch on CSPAN.  An enraged public collapsed the telephone system on the hill with calls filled with anguish and revulsion.   

You promised yourself that you would make John McCain pay for his behavior.  Your time has come. 

If you want to partake in an open debate GOP convention in September of 2008 visit this website, www.opengopconvention.com 

The worse fear mongering from the Party warns us about Supreme Court appointments.  Yes, it is true that some judges in the Supreme Court may be contemplating retirement.  What reason do we have to expect that McCain would support conservative judges?   We cannot choose between a certainty and a probability.  The retirement of Supreme Court judges is a probability.  What we know for certain is that McCain will flood the workplace with massive numbers of legal immigrant workers, grant amnesty to 20+ million illegal aliens, he will lure our moderate Republicans towards support of Democratic causes like Global Warming, he will oppose tax cuts as he has done before (he called them tax breaks for the rich). 

As if that is not bad enough, McCain is pledged to free market agreement and the formation of marketing blocks like NAFTA, CAFTA and whichever the trans-national corporate lobbyist tell him to support.  It is now the consensus that millions of America’s have lost their jobs and seen their wages depressed by the free trade agreements written by special interests and signed into law by Clinton, Bush and waiting to be signed by Hillary Clinton, Obama and McCain.  McCain nor any of the other candidates care about the job losses and wage depression on the middle class.  McCain has been quoted as saying that he is the most free trade advocate in the Senate and in this race. 

If McCain is nominated, many Republicans will vote for their favorite state candidates and issues; and leave the presidential slot blank. In the unlikely event that McCain gets the presidency, McCain will keep the party divided for 4 to 8 years as George Bush has done. 

If the Democrat’s favorite Republican presidential candidate gets elected and he passes the McCain-Kennedy amnesty, 20+ million illegal aliens will get a path to citizenship and to registering Democrat ensuring the end of the Republican Party as we know it. Liberal Republicans will be annexed to the Democrat Party and they will be happy in their new home. 

John McCain will be known as the last Republican President and the father of the one party system in America. 

Links

www.dolz.com

www.dolz.com/mccainlastreppres.htm 

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/41796

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/41016

http://www.dolz.com/call/BushRingLeader.htm

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/29255

John Kerry is a political loser but he’s a smart, influential loser.

Kerry wants to be on the historical winning team and he wants to continue or enhance his role in any future Democratic presidency. That’s why he has endorsed Obama if I were him I would’ve done the same thing..lol. He also brings quite a lot to Obama’s campaign, his contacts, money (his own contributions and that of his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry we can’t forget her and their ability to raise vasts sums) and the ability to help Obama negotiate the ‘establishment’ world of the Democratic Party of which he is a key player.

Obama wants to change the way that Washington works and he wants to bring about great and long lasting beneficial changes to the American people and the world but he has to win the nomination first. He doesn’t need to convince all of the established interests and sections of the Democratic party to come over to his side but he does need to have some support from some key influential persons within this section of the party in order to solidify his nomination even before it happens and Kerry could be the man to help him do that.

If Kerry can help convince a few more heavy weights to join Obama and help him solcit and win, the key word win a few more big union endorsements between now and Super Tuesday we could be looking at an entirely different playing field for Obama- a better one.

So although Kerry’s endorsment means nothing on the surface, it could mean everything in the long run.