Even Some Conservatives Think Glenn Beck is Nuts

Conservative Stalwart Bill Kristol has called out Glenn Beck on his nonsensical rantings about the situation in Egypt. I have been amazed by the Republican media's talking points over the past week. Basically, the Republican media establishment has come out in support of dictator Hosni Mubarak & his government, all in the name of undermining President Obama. Republican Supreme Leader Rush Limbaugh, along with Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and much of Fox-Non-News have been leading the way in this particular anti-Obama effort. But in the process, they have come away looking absolutely ridiculous.

Finally, some Conservatives are beginning to speak up, unable to deal with the level of crazy coming from their own ranks.

And despite all of this...what does Obama do? He legitimizes Fox-Non-News (a political organization) by appearing on their network over the weekend. This is the kind of nonsense that gives me a headache about Obama & Co.


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Pensions Not the Problem

Last night the local Fox News affiliate here in Philadelphia chose to devote a large portion of their 10:00pm news program spotlighting what they call "The Pension Problem" in Philadelphia, New Jersey and other places. In calling pensions the problem, Fox misled the public and missed an opportunity to highlight the truth for tax-payers.

Once again, the local news media, this time Fox in particular, cow-towed to liberal politicians and let them off the hook for a mess that they singularly have created. But not only that, they also portrayed hard-working city and state employees as the problem, seemed to be trying to pit tax-payers against pensioners, and never once keyed on the real problem.

That real problem? Out of control spending on issues, services, and frankly outright budgetary 'pork' over decades and decades as well as regular, intentional under-funding of employee pensions. All of that going on with little to no outcry from media watchdogs.

Fox missed an opportunity when they once again identified the real problems improperly in stating that "Pensions are at the heart of budget troubles in the state of New Jersey and in the city of Philadelphia."

Pensions are not the problem, politicians are the problem. Politicians who spend money that the city's citizens simply do not have and never did have on programs that make them feel and look better.

No, I am not going to take any time whatsoever to point out any particular program or project that I feel falls into this category. I will make one simple statement, however. If any fiscal conservative individual had been put in charge, this would not have happened.

A critic of my position might call that a copout. Frankly it is a simple acknowledgement that there are far too many such spending debacles. Get yourself a copy of the budget and go through it for yourself. Why are we spending any money on some of the programs at all? What made them Philadelphia's tax-payers responsiblity in the first place? There are many such items in every budget.

And further, Fox tried to blame a part of this on the stock market downturn. I have heard the exact same lament from Mayor Michael Nutter and other politicians. The fact is, the stock market should be almost a non-issue. If the city had funded the pensions fully all along, and invested that money safely, and not used it to cover other expenses, there wouldn't be any problem right now, or those would be minimal.

Further, nothing will change in Philadelphia until the city follows the lead of the citizens of New Jersey and begins to toss the liberal Democrats who have run our town into the ground over decades out onto the streets.

Governor Chris Christie has begun the difficult task of straightening out New Jersey's problems which were created by Democrats and RINO Republicans over decades in our neighbor state. Philadelphia needs exactly the same changes here in order to have any chance at saving itself from ruin.

Pensions are not some burdensome extravagance lavished upon privileged people. Speaking as someone who has been working for two decades with the promise of a city pension at the end of the line, what pensions are instead are a fringe benefit based on a solemn promise.

When I decided to take on the job of a Police Officer and go out onto the streets of Philadelphia day and night to fight crime, that promise of a decent pension at retirement was a huge reason for making that decision. The city gave me it's promise of that pension, and I along with numerous other officers gave them decades of hard work in return.

It's always bemoaned as some obvious fact that police officers "don't get paid enough" for the work that we do. Chasing bad men with guns up dark alleys, searching through dark buildings for wanted criminals, standing in the middle of thousands of vehicles to direct traffic safely are all on the enormous list of dirty, dangerous jobs.

Most of us do this job because we love it, that's true. Many, like me, are part of multiple familial generations of public servants for whom a part of the attraction is that knowledge that we are making a positive difference in our communities.

But we also have traded off that relatively low salary for dangerous, hazardous, and as we have seen highlighted here in Philadelphia over the past few years deadly work in exchange for benefits that are important to us including quality health coverage and secure retirement.

Again, those are things that the city of Philadelphia promised to us when we took this job decades ago. It was a promise the city made to my own father back in 1960 when he began to work for thirty years for this town as a police officer. It is a solemn promise that they owe both realistically and morally.

Now there is a little problem here. The "they" of whom I speak is a city. That means in functional terms it's tax-payers have to share in footing the bill for these services. They also have to share the blame for the problems for continually voting in the same politicians and Party and mentality year after year.

Those fiscal problems can be solved by fully funding all pension obligations, providing basic services, and cutting out the pork entirely. Not a single politician or official working for the city of Philadelphia should have a 'take-home car' for instance. Why should tax-payers be paying for the vehicles themselves as well as costly maintenance, fuel, insurance, and so on? Outrageous on it's face.

If the city of Philadelphia had real fiscal and social conservatives running the show, the budget and services would be slashed and taxes lowered rather than raised. This would make Philly attractive once again for residents and businesses. More businesses here, more jobs. The cycle would reverse.

But no, the liberal socialist mindset is not only alive and well in Philadelphia and most other big cities in America today, it has spread to our national government as well. Tax and spend, spend and tax: the liberal socialist mantra.

No, Fox Philly, pensions are not the problem. The out of control spending of politicians is the problem. And since the vast majority of those politicians and all of the power are liberal Democrats with socialist thought processes, there should be the proper direction for your news features and stories.

When the media begins to challenge the power structure that has been in place in Philadelphia for decades, begins to call a spade a spade in naming specifically the Democratic Party and the liberal spending policies as the true problem, then they might have some integrity and credibility.

Stop pitting citizens against citizens, tax payers against employees, one hard-working Philadelphian against another. Instead, Fox Philly and other media outlets, turn your Constitutionally-mandated and protected power against the powers-that-be who got us into this mess and keep us wallowing in it. That is your job. Go earn your pensions as we earn ours.

Further Confirmation of Glenn Beck's Stupidity - Now He Is Attacking American Churches

Caption: Shhhh... (whispering) I'm making a killing by taking advantage of these idiots on the right, especially the dopes in that Tea Party Movement. They buy my act hook, line & sinker...and none of them have caught on yet. These people are so stupid... I can get them to support just about anything. They believe every lie that I tell, and I'm going to keep making money off of them. Thank God for stupid people...and Thank God for Roger Ailes for giving me this great platform.

I don't know if it's stupidity or genius... because after all, he is the one getting over by taking advantage of the ignorance of his followers. Hell, if I had millions of American zombies hanging on my every word & making me richer, I would probably take advantage of them too, as long as it was legal. Who wouldn't? But then again, I have a conscience and a moral compass, two things that Glenn Beck doesn't have. So I don't think I would do very well as a con artist.

This is the most phony right wing hack on the airwaves. He doesn't even make it a secret anymore. He's openly phony, yet his supporters (idiots) love to watch him. His latest antics involve encouraging his Christian followers to leave their churches if they notice any sort of "social justice" being practiced or preached. Problem is... this includes many right leaning evangelical churches, including The Catholic Church...and even his own Mormon Church.

Even though it is clear (no longer a secret) that his activities are part of an ongoing Republican effort to use fear to excite voters, his followers will unfortunately continue to support him. The idiots in the so-called Tea Party movement will continue to back him, even though they are openly being manipulated by scare tactics from the right...all for political purposes. Many of his followers hang on his every word, and will do exactly what he tells them. As I have stated many times before, it is amazing how the right is able to get these folks to even go against their own economic and political interests and their interests simply as citizens. The level of manipulation and propaganda is truly unbelievable to me. But what blows my mind even more is the fact that it works... the fact that so many people embrace the rights propaganda without questioning anything about what or who they are supporting.

Beck, a Mormon, said the word “social justice” is code for communism and Nazism.

From Media Matters:
Beck: Social justice is "infecting all" faiths



From the New York Times Blog The Caucus:

Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they heard any preaching about social or economic justice because, he claimed, those were slogans affiliated with Nazism and Communism.

This week, the Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical leader in Washington, D.C., called on Christians to leave Glenn Beck.

“What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show,” Mr. Wallis, who heads the antipoverty group Sojourners, wrote on his “God’s Politics” blog. “His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern.”

Mr. Beck, in vilifying churches that promote “social justice,” managed to insult just about every mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, African-American, Hispanic and Asian congregation in the country — not to mention plenty of evangelical ones.

Even Mormon scholars in Mr. Beck’s own church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in interviews that Mr. Beck seemed ignorant of just how central social justice teaching was to Mormonism.

The controversy began when Mr. Beck said on his radio show: “I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.

“Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If I am going to Jeremiah Wright’s church,” he said, referring to the incendiary black pastor who led the church attended by the Obama family members when they lived in Chicago. “If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, ‘Excuse me, are you down with this whole social justice thing?’ ”

Britt Hume's Advice to Tiger Woods

Everyone pretty much knows the story of Tiger Woods' recent fall from grace. It became public that the mega-star athlete and corporation head was a serial adulterer. The married Woods is the father of two kids in diapers and cashed in greatly not only on his golfing acumen, but also on a squeaky-clean family man image.

Since the numerous affairs began to become public at Thanksgiving following a late night domestic incident and auto accident at his home, Woods' sponsorship deals have disappeared and his golf career put on hold as his family disintegrated in public.

Into this mess last Sunday waded Fox News political analyst and veteran newsman Britt Hume. On the program 'Fox News Sunday', the network's key Sunday news offering on major events, the panel participants were commenting on the big stories in the coming year. In the category of sports, Hume decided to tackle the immediate future of Tiger Woods, opining that Woods would indeed recover his golfing career this year.

However, Hume did not stop there. He went on to add that though Woods, who is believed to be a follower of Buddhism in his religious leanings, would indeed regain his golfing status, he might have a more difficult time in battling and overcoming his personal moral demons. Here is the full, exact quote by Hume at it's relevant point:

"My message would be to Tiger..turn to the Christian faith, and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Uh oh, take cover, Britt Hume! Head for the hills! Here come the leftists and atheists with their pitch forks! A Christian daring to go on national television and expound that the best course of action for a fallen human being to take would be to turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and redemption? An outrageous scandal in the making!

The responses from the liberals was fast and furious this past week. A perfect example was Huffington Post blogger Eve Tahmincioglu, who termed Hume's commentary "bigotry" and further stated she could only "loosely" call him a journalist. Hume has worked for UPI, has been ABC's chief White House correspondent, and has been in the industry for 40 years, having twice been named 'Best in the Business' by the American Journalism Review.

But that is what liberals do best when their ideals, or lack of them, are challenged. Rather than express their own positive messages that extol their own ideas, liberals attack and smear, taking a page from their Saul Alinsky bible. As Britt Hume showed last Sunday, mainstream America is no longer afraid of these fringe radical attacks on American traditionalism and religious freedoms.

The fact is that the U.S. Constitution does not include any references whatsoever to any 'separation of church and state', and in fact makes numerous references to God, as do numerous other documents including the Declaration of Independence. Rather than stifling or eliminating references to religion, the Constitution simply protects the right of Americans to freely express their religious beliefs without being forced to embrace a state-sponsored particular religion.

For decades now, Christians have been under attack by left-wing radicals who embrace atheist concepts as a part of their socialist or communist agendas. It has been particularly Christians who are attacked because Christianity is far and away the leading religious belief system in America, and because our nation was founded largely by Christians acting on the principles that were espoused by their belief system.

All that Britt Hume did last Sunday was give public utterance to the exact teachings of Jesus Christ Himself. Christ taught "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whomever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." It just doesn't get any clearer than that.

What Tiger Woods did was to sin, plain and simple. Sin has been called "the greatest evil, being the root and source of all evil." Tiger needs to acknowledge his sin for what it is, he needs to seek forgiveness from his God for that sin, and he needs to seek redemption in the only way possible by believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.

Now many believers in other religious systems would take umbrage to that statement. They might believe that there is some other path that Tiger Woods can take to ask for forgiveness and to receive his redemption. Whatever you believe, that isn't the point. The simple point is that Britt Hume, and the nearly 80% of Americans who are also Christian, legitimately believe what he said is plain and simple truth, and that they have a Constitutionally protected right to express that belief.

Expect further attacks from the liberal media including newscasters from other networks, comedians, politicians, and members of other faith systems. At the same time, it is long past time for the more than 200 million Christian Americans to stand up for ourselves and for Christ in a public manner. If they want a fight, it's time to make it a two-sided brawl, for there is nothing more important to humanity or to individual men than the salvation of our immortal souls.

It is not only truth that Jesus Christ is the only way to true redemption for your sins, for Tiger Woods sins, but it is also truth that you will undeniably and absolutely find the peace of mind and the wholeness of self that all human beings seek if you simply do what Britt Hume advised Tiger Woods to do: "turn to the Christian faith", to Jesus Christ and his Word.

NOTE: This is a continuation of the regular 'Sunday Sermon' series, all entries of which you can view by clicking on that label below this aritcle at www.mattveasey.com

2009 American of the Year: Glenn Beck

This was a year of tremendous change for America, and the vast majority of it was not for the good. Our national debt, already out of control as the year began, has now soared to previously unimaginable levels. Our government has taken over control of large portions of private industry, and is poised to take over even more in the coming years.

On the international front, we have become indecisive and noncommittal in fighting a war against a determined Islamofascist enemy that continues to look for ways to attack us, kill our citizens, and deal crippling blows to our economy and our way of life. Thanks to recent election results, we face a future of increasing debt and taxation and decreasing personal freedom and liberty.

Not willing to stand by and simply whine and complain on the airwaves, radio talk show host Glenn Beck took his blossoming television program from CNN's Headline News and moved to the Fox News network in early 2009. This move allowed him to get out from under the umbrella of the liberal mandate of CNN and into the Fox world that allows fair and balanced reporting of all sides of the issues.

Beck then began a year-long education of the American people on civics, history, and current events that was quite simply not being discussed anywhere else in any clear and consistent manner. For his efforts as a truthful voice crying out in the wilderness, and for his out-front leadership of traditional America, this website is proud to name Glenn Beck as it's 2009 American of the Year.

Beck follows in the footsteps of previous honorees Pat Tillman (2004), Bill O'Reilly (2005), Rev. Billy Graham (2006), P/O Chuck Cassidy (2007), and President George W. Bush (2008). While many years have seen a number of worthy individuals fall just short while being considered, no one really came close to challenging Beck for this year's honor.

There is no doubt that websites, magazines, and news programs run by and catering to ultra-liberals, socialists, and Europeans will look to make their 'Person of the Year' selections soon. Many of them will no doubt select Barack Obama for his, uh, for...hmmm. There is the whole being sworn in and becoming the first-ever minority, well, half-minority President in American history thing. But then that is really a ceremony.

Should we give someone an award for contributions during an entire year when all they really accomplished was ceremonial? Well, apparently they give out the Nobel prize for accomplishing nothing. But this website will not fall into that trap.

The more important thing would seem to be not winning an election, but what you do once you are in office. Other than driving up debt, decreasing freedom, and lessening national security, it's hard to find any accomplishments of Obama this past year.

This year, Beck released another in a what is fast becoming a series of best-selling books. His latest is titled "Arguing With Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government" and in it he takes on these targets with simple facts. Gun control? Government-run health care? Illegal immigration? You might think that you have an opinion, but in this book, Glenn will help you to understand the facts.

The 45-year old Beck did more than lend a leading voice to the most worthy cause of protecting and preserving the U.S. Constitution and restoring American exceptionalism, though that enough would be worthy of the honor. As a concrete measure, he organized the '9-12 Project' to embody the spirit that the vast majority of Americans felt on the day after the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks.

Beck's '9-12 Project' is based on 9 principles and 12 values that embody this spirit. The principles include basic ideals such as "America is good", "I believe in God", "The family is sacred", and "The government works for me." The 12 values are: honesty, reverence, hope, thrift, humility, charity, sincerity, moderation, hard work, courage, personal responsibility, and gratitude.

Beck also gave a voice to the 'Tea Party' movement which grew at formal town hall gatherings all across the country during 2009. Based on the 'Boston Tea Party' concept of protest against excessive government actions and taxation, these localized events exploded into a massive taxpayer march on Washington on September 12th, 2009.

His style is one of intellectual inquisitiveness mixed with what he himself calls a 'rodeo clown' persona. Open about being a recovering alcoholic, Beck sprinkles his television program with the same humor that is a hallmark of his radio show, adding formal charts and graphics and video accompanied by simple presentations made by him alone standing at a chalkboard. He engages guests at both venues of all political persuasions in conversation rather than rancorous debate.

Critics of Beck's programming presentations have often used terms such as 'fear-monger' and 'conspiratorial', and yet almost never do you here any substance behind such accusations and commentary. As is a hallmark of the liberal community in general, name-calling is about all that the left has to offer up in rebuttal when challenged on-air by Beck's biting tongue and sharp wit.

In September of 2009, Beck was highlighted by the usually left-leaning Time magazine in a cover piece titled "Is Glenn Beck Bad For America?" In this sweeping article that basically painted him as one would expect from a liberal tome, Time had this to say of his programming: "As melodrama, it's thumping good stuff. But as politics, it's sort of a train wreck — at once powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled." What the magazine did not say is perhaps the most telling thing. It did not say that he is a liar.

There are any number of radio talk hosts, television commentators, political pundits, comic satirists, and armchair politicians out there. But exactly because he is so "powerful, spellbinding and uncontrolled" as well as truthful, Glenn Beck taps into the raw nerves of the large numbers of Americans who are as rightfully frightened for the future of our once-great nation as he himself has become.

For his expressive courage, his moral conviction, his articulation of truth, his love of America, he is an example to us all. For what he has overcome in his personal life to become a wealthy, influential opinion shaper, as well as a devoted, loving family man, he is an example as well. For all of this, and for his work with the '9-12 Project' and the 'Tea Party' movement, Glenn Beck is this website's 2009 American of the Year.

NOTE: To view the write-ups for all of the 'American of the Year' winners simply click on to that label below this article at www.mattveasey.com

Where Were You?

I've already heard it asked in my office, on the radio, and in a couple of other venues this morning: Where were you when you first heard about the attacks on 9/11? The answers have been numerous, from people sitting in their cars in traffic, to folks working as police officers here in Philly, to folks who had the day off and were watching it all on television.

Being a police officer who has worked the 'Last Out' shift for a few years, meaning that I worked a steady shift of overnight hours from approximately 11pm until 7am, I have often speculated that there must have been at least some officers of the NYPD who worked overnight and had just gotten home and in bed by 8am or so on the morning of September 11th, 2001. I was usually in bed by that time after working that shift myself.

I can imagine such an officer sleeping away their day, perhaps with their cellphone off or on 'silent' and with their home phone ring turned off. Again, this was my habit after working overnight. The last thing that I wanted to have happen was for anyone to wake me up for anything, let alone for some random call from work to reach me. Who could ever imagine receiving the call that those officers may have missed and later found on their answering machines?

Imagine those officers working all night, getting home on a typical Tuesday morning, and then waking up at around 3pm before finally hearing from some source: a phone message, the news on television or radio, some friend or neighbor in person telling them what had happened. Of course your first call is going to be in to your work place, and then begins the likely process of getting ready to head in to work, possibly having to make some special travel arrangements to get there.

All of that is speculative, but it takes no stretch of the imagination to consider that there were probably hundreds of such officers in New York city on that fateful day. Where was I that morning? I would imagine it's pretty typical, and typically uninteresting. I was assigned as a Detective with the Northeast Detective Division of the Philadelphia Police Department at the time, but was on a scheduled day off.

At about 7:15am I had left our home in the Somerton section of Philadelphia to drive our daughter Melissa to school. She had just begun her sophomore year at Archbishop Ryan High School in the Far Northeast section of the city, and it took me about 35 minutes to get her over to the building and out of the car, and drive back to our house.

I had been logged on to my home PC before we left, checking my email while waiting for Melissa to finish getting herself ready, and was listening to Philly's local "smooth jazz" radio station. It was such a beautiful morning when we left, and the mood with the jazz music was so mellow, that I left it playing so that I could return to this same atmosphere.

I got back and things were just as I had hoped. The day was still blossoming in gorgeous style with mellow temperatures and a high, clear blue sky. The jazz music was keeping that atmosphere just as mellow inside my house, and I sat back down to the computer. Many mornings would find me turning on and following Fox News, but this morning the music was so perfect for the day that I just left it play and kept out the news of the world.

At about 9am, my home phone rang, and it was my wife Debbie calling. She had a bit of an excited tone to her voice as she quickly asked "Are you watching TV?" I told her that I wasn't, and she replied "Well turn it on, they just bombed our embassy!" I told her okay, and we quickly hung up the phone. But I didn't turn on the TV right away. She called back a couple minutes later and said "Do you have the TV on?" When I told her that I hadn't turned it on yet, she more insistently told me "Turn it on!"

So I grabbed the remote and clicked on the television, wondering what could be upsetting her so much about one of our embassies being bombed. Not that it wouldn't be a big story, but I just didn't understand why she would be calling from her work about it. As the screen came in to view there on Fox was a picture of the first Twin Tower in the minutes after it had been struck. I told her "That's not an embassy, it's the Twin Towers, and a plane hit it" She just told me to keep it on, that they were talking about a possible terrorist attack, and we again hung up.

As I sat back and watched those early confusing moments, something almost unreal happened on the screen. While they were talking about a plane hitting the tower, and speculating on the nature of that crash, suddenly there was another jet coming in to view in the picture. In the split second that it took for the mind to go from "What the heck is a plane doing flying that low when one already hit the tower" to "Oh my God!" the second plane struck the second Twin Tower.

At that immediate instant it became clear that this was no accident. There was no doubt that this was an attack. Now the question was, what next? I clearly remember stopping right there and saying a prayer.

The rest of my day was filled with following the developments on Fox News and the other news channels. My wife was let out early from her work, and on her way home she picked up our daughter from school. I found that my other two older daughters were safe, and closely followed things to see if Philadelphia would ever become involved or our officers mobilized. Neither ever happened.

That is forever how I will remember that day, that moment. The incredible peace and tranquility of that morning suddenly ended by the phone call, and then that incredible moment on television of the second plane as it hit the World Trade Center. Eight years later it still is as clear a memory as the sky was on that Tuesday morning. I imagine that it will forever remain that crystal clear, and I hope and pray that there is never another day like it, or worse, in our nations future.

No Monkeying Around With Obama

To say that the world has gone overboard with political correctness is an understatement, and this is nowhere more visible than in the world of editorial cartoons. You learned in recent years that you can't draw an editorial cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammed without risk of being shot dead, blown up or decapitated by some radical Islamic lunatic. Having a sense of humor is an integral part of the human experience. And in democratic societies, freedom of speech including a free press is a vital piece of our civilization puzzle. But it's not just the radical Islamic world that has lost its collective sense of humor, or at the very least its willingness to allow sarcastic expression. The more radical members of the black community here in America are at it again as well. Write or draw something that those people don't like, and they are all over you like white on rice. Oops, did I call them 'those people'? Better be careful, they might find something to take personal in a few typewritten words. I might get a letter from the NAACP and some choice comments from Al Sharpton. Last week a woman in Connecticut was severely mauled when her friend's pet chimpanzee got loose and attacked her. A frantic calle went out to 9-1-1, and the responding police officers were faced with the chimpanzee attacking them. They had no choice but to shoot the animal dead. It was a major story all over the network news. Another major story in the news recently has been the alleged 'stimulus' bill that the majority of Americans were against, but which President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party cohorts in Congress decided to ram down our throats anyway. Into the fray stepped cartoonist Sean Delonis, a famed satirist who took the big monkey story and decided to merge it with the stimulus bill story. Delonis drew an editorial cartoon which was published by the New York Post which depicted the police officer, gun still smoking, in the immediate aftermath with the dead chimp lying on the ground in front of him in a puddle of blood. In the caption the cop is saying: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." Uh, oh, look out. The first black President in American history leads the effort to foist a ridiculous spending bill on the people, and automatically the monkey shot last week is a representation of him when drawn as a cartoon in a spoof by poor Sean Delonis. The 'Reverend Al' led the charge of the race-baiters, as usual, with his statement that "..given the historic racist attacks on African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys...one has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this.." Really, Reverend Al? And why is that? Why does anyone have to ask that question at all? The fact is that this was a brilliant incorporation of one big story into another by Delonis, who has solid credentials and whose work is widely respected in the industry. The very same race-baiters who had no comment to make when Chris Brown punched out Rihanna, perpetuating yet another negative stereotype within the African-American community, look for a way to undermine any attack on 'Saint Barack' and his programs and policies. They are so tied up in forcing his success that they cannot allow the small criticisms, and editorial cartoons are indeed small, that President Bush had to experience for the entirety of his eight years in office. From his being from Texas in particular and the South in general, from his use of the word 'nuceuler' instead of 'nuclear', to a thousand other things, President Bush was skewered and pilloried for almost a decade, just as President Clinton was for almost a decade before that. Here is the fact: Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America, and as such he is subject to editorial attacks in cartoons, on television programs, and every other media outlet. It comes with the job, which requires the thickest of skins, no matter that skin color. Sometimes the commentary will be biting and difficult for he and his supporters to stomach, and sometimes it will be downright funny to even the most frequent 'liberal Kool Aid' drinkers. The New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp, the parent company of Fox News, a frequent basher of Obama and certainly the one major news outlet that has not been his cheerleader. Sharpton and the race-baiters hate Fox, and this may be part of the problem. The fact is that Obama's plans, policies, programs, and politics are as up for attack as any of Bush's or Clinton's were in the past. Oh, and Reverend Al and friends, not every reference to the word 'black', not every banana peeled, not every watermelon eaten, not every child abandoned, not every woman beaten, not every monkey shot dead will be any kind of racial reference. Toughen up, Obama supporters, or it's gonna be a long, hard four years for you people.

Television & the Presidency as a Time Machine

I was sitting at home this past Saturday night, just flicking around the dial, when a newly produced special report on the Fox News Channel titled "Television & the Presidency" caught my eye. Being a bit of a history buff, especially American history, it was right up my alley: a historical perspective on the role that television has played in Presidential politics. As I settled in the program moved quickly through Jimmy Carter's lame Presidency in the late 1970's. Those Carter years were fresh in my own experience, since I turned 15 years old right after his election. Carter was basically the President of my high school years, and it wasn't pretty. The man was supposed to be some kind of genius. At least that was how the press sold him. But he just couldn't seem to solve any of the big problems that came along, from the gas crisis to unemployment to ballooning interest rates to the emergence of radical islam. Every time a problem raised it's head, Carter talked and talked and got nothing done to solve it. At least that was my perspective as a teenager, but what did I know? And besides, it didn't matter, I didn't have a vote...yet. In the fall of 1979, among the many other changes happening in my life, I turned 18 years old and had finally reached the age where I could register to vote. My family was historically a Democratic one, and the Party seemed to easily fit the liberal ideals that most appropriately espoused my own philosophy at the time, so I registered Democrat. As Carter continued to stumble and falter, I looked to 'Camelot' for my own and my new Party's salvation. I had been a Kennedy fan ever since learning in my youth that I shared my birthday with Bobby Kennedy. I did reading during high school on JFK and Bobby, and was among those convinced at the time that there was obviously a conspiracy in Dallas, and that the Warren Commission was a sham. In my first election, the Pennsylvania primary of May 1980, the presumed heir to the Kennedy crown stepped up to challenge President Carter, and I jumped on board the 'Teddy Kennedy for President' express. That spring, Kennedy came to Philadelphia to accept the endorsement of Mayor Bill Green. I had just started working for First Pennsylvania Bank about eight months earlier, and Kennedy's speech was going to be given right outside my doors at 15th & Chestnut Streets. I remember very clearly looking down from our 7th floor windows in the 1500 Chestnut building. You could see the 'rooftop' security activity, but no one was telling us to stay away from the windows in those days. At some point I slipped out of work and made my way down to try and get a glimpse of my new (first) political hero. Much to my amazement, I was able to get within a few feet at the rear of the makeshift stand that had been setup from which Senator Kennedy would speak. I remember it pretty clearly, but I am quite sure that in the haze of the ensuing 28 years, I have probably messed up a few details. But that's how I recall that day. I remember that I never actually got a chance to see Kennedy, though I was probably no more than 15 feet from him. Being in the rear of the stage, and with other security and dignitaries between myself and others, with Kennedy speaking at the front, all I could do was stand and listen, which I did. Oh, and a couple other things that I know. I had longer hair then, actually parted in the middle with the 'wings' that were still in style. I was wearing a white dress shirt with the wide collar, had left the top shirt button unbuttoned, had a greyish tie loosened, and was wearing the vest from a grey 3-piece suit without the jacket. How do I know all that, you say? Because as the Fox special progressed through to Kennedy's challenge of Carter, they showed a snippet from that very speech that he gave that day in Philly. And very quickly, but lasting 3-4 full seconds, there was a closeup of an 18-year old Matt Veasey standing in the back of the stage, eyes glazed over as he listened to Kennedy speaking. I mean, it was crystal clear, closeup, and they held the camera on me long enough for me to say "Holy crap!" as I sat in my living room 28 years later. Thankfully, the television experts have invented DVR, and I quickly rewound the program to watch again. There I was staring back in time at myself almost three decades ago, still a teenager, less than a year out of high school, my eldest daughter just a couple of months old. It was eerie, partly because it was totally unexpected, partly because the shot was a good one, partly because I haven't seen that face much in decades. I don't know of any video, family or otherwise, that exists of me from those days. I don't actually even have many photos from that time, at least not in my possession. But there I was, live and in person, at least on tape, from spring of 1980. I ran upstairs and got my wife Debbie, who didn't know me back then, and asked her to come downstairs and watch the show for a minute. I had it cued up to just before my appearance, and gave her the buildup describing what the show was about and where we were in the episode, and then asked her to watch close and see if anything catches her eye. She watched and let the shot of me go by, and just as I flickered off the screen she looked at me wide-eyed and asked "was that you?" in an incredulous tone. We watched it together a few more times and shared the amazement with a good laugh as I caught her up on some of the things that were happening in my life at that point. So if you get a chance to see this "Television & the Presidency" special on Fox News Channel, stay tuned for the episode and section where they cover Jimmy Carter. As they move to the Kennedy 1980 primary challenge, they will show the Philly speech, and as Kennedy laments that we want "no more high taxes, no more hostages" or whatever his rant was, you will see a starry-eyed young liberal in the audience. That young man was me once. It was good to see me again.

Mendte's Muse-Gone-Wrong

First, for those who may be from out-of-town and don't know the players, Larry Mendte is a former local TV news anchor, a typical middle-aged white male. Alycia Lane is a younger, very attractive former coanchor of Mendte's. Dawn Stensland is an attractive, popular local news anchor and married to Mendte, mother to his two youngest children. Mendte and Lane have been fired in the last few months for controversial incidents. Lane was involved in a late-night dust up with undercover cops in New York, one of a string of controversies surrounding the nubile news beauty. Mendte was canned for tapping into Lane's email accounts and leaking negative stories about her to the press. Mendte subsequently faced federal charges for the privacy violations, and pled guilty to those yesterday and now awaits sentencing in the matter. Stensland is steadfastly and classily standing by her man. To say that any relationship between former local news anchors Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane would be a 'May-December' one would be a little off the mark. If we generally are able to live to 80 years of age, that divides the twelve months into 6 1/2 year periods. So in 2003 when Lane came to town and what Mendte describes as a 'flirtatious, unprofessional, inappropriate' relationship began, the two would have more of a 'May-July' relationship. That is how close someone who is 30-ish would be to someone in their mid-40's, but for some reason some folks still don't get the attraction of a 27-32 year old woman to a mid-upper 40's man. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jonathan Storm, who judging by his bi-line photo is in Mendte's age bracket but out of Lane's league, derides the possibility of a relationship as likely a product of Mendte's middle-aged imagination, reasoning that Lane had "an ability to attract young hunks" and wondering why she would possibly go "all aflutter for her 50ish coanchor?" Wake up, Mr. Storm. Young girls go for older men all the time. Attracted to and by hunks or not, there is something attractive about an older guy's softer looks, experienced demeanor, relaxed attitude, and of course at times money, power, and prestige. The likelihood to my way of thinking is that Lane came to town, got paired up with Mendte on the news, and they developed a relationship. Mendte was likely smitten by Lane's looks, Lane seems a bit of a wild-child, and was probably attracted by Mendte's status and charm. In any event, they likely had a flirtatious relationship that had not apparently developed into an affair when Stensland found some incriminating emails regarding the relationship. She confronted Mendte, he backed off from Lane and put up a wall, and Lane likely reacted poorly as well. Mendte and Lane went from dinner buddies and flirty friends to back-stabbing and rivalry. My take is that Mendte was drawn to her email by a combination of wanting to know what was happening in her private life, and wanting to get some dirt on her to give himself the professional edge. He found both, and leaked bad items to friends in the media who made Lane look bad. She didn't need a lot of help in that, when she acted like an ass and maybe worse in her New York police encounter late in 2007. In the end, what once looked like a jovial pairing of a veteran male newcaster and the newcomer beauty queen coanchor has crashed and burned, leaving professional and personal scars aplenty. Alycia Lane once appeared to be headed towards becoming Larry Mendte's professional, middle-aged muse, if not more. Now they both share the spotlight for reasons that neither could ever have envisioned or desired. It's a damned shame how some who seem to have it all are willing to risk it for their ego, but there you have it.

Islamism Series: Honor Killings

Let's get the Islamofascist rants out of the way with right off the bat. Yes, America is a society where murder has become epidemic in some communities, and domestic homicides are nothing at all peculiar to only the Muslim community. That much is obvious simply by watching a few weeks of the 'Nancy Grace' program on CNN's Headline News network, were the latest murder of an attractive woman by a husband or boyfriend is the topic of discussion at least 50% of the time. People kill people for many reasons, and some kill people that they do now, or at least used to love. What the topic of this post discusses is the particular problem of Islamic 'honor killing', which is indeed peculiar to that community. The newsworthiness to the American public is that the phenomenon is new here, is growing, and is taking the lives of American citizens. Tomorrow night, Saturday July 25th, at 8pm, Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly will host a special titled "Murder in the Family: Honor Killing in America" in which she will discuss the problem of fathers killing daughters, brothers killing sisters, husbands killing wives, all in order to restore their families' 'honor'. Kelly is an outstanding reporter and host, and this program should prove as eye-opening as it's title implies. Last night (Weds July 24th) on The O'Reilly Factor, Kelly previewed the special by discussing with host Bill O'Reilly the particular case of a father killing his two teenage daughters in Texas, simply because the man felt that the two girls were becoming too 'westernized'. Amina and Sara Said (pictured) were shot by their father (an audio exists of the 911 call made by the girls during the shooting) last year, and their Egyptian Muslim father is now a fugitive from Texas justice. The man had come to the States and married a Texas woman, so the two girls were American citizens. The 17-year old Sara had recently begun seeing an American boy, and had told friends that if her father found out he would "kill her." Little did the friends know just how serious she was. In Chicago, Subhash Chander killed his pregnant daughter, son-in-law, and 3-year old grandson because he disapproved of his daughter marrying a man from a lower caste, as was discussed by Michelle Malkin in her oustanding blog. In Georgia, Chauhdry Rashid strangled his 25-year old daughter to death after she threatened to divorce her husband. Radical Islamists believe that Islamic law, or Shariah, should be the primary source of law and cultural identity within a state, and they believe that every state should be governed by this law and follow the teachings of the Koran and the Sunnah. If they gain control of the world, including America, which is their stated goal, then every woman will lose her civil rights. The Islamists claim that these types of killings are perfectly within their rights as established by their society and culture. Unfortunately for these particular men highlighted, they committed their crimes here in America. Here in America we simply call it 'murder', and that it is of family members is considered particularly heinous. These men should face the full force of the American judicial system, and be incarcerated for life when found guilty. They should certainly not be deported to some country that may sympathetically release them based on that society's culture. No matter how you slice it, no religion or culture that specifically authorizes murder of family members can be considered as legitimate. Period. The title to this blog entry will link you to hear the phone call from the Said girls to 911 on the night that their father murdered them. Listen, and then be sure to watch or record the Fox News special at 8pm on Saturday night and begin to get more educated on this particular type of domestic homicide, coming soon to your town.

R.I.P. Tony Snow

There is plenty of coverage across the Internet and on television news programs on the death of Tony Snow, but to just let it pass without an entry here would be wrong. Tony Snow was that rare modern-day newsman who was accepted and respected by the mainstream media even though he did not subscribe to their usual liberal school of thought. Born in 1955 in Kentucky, Snow was raised in Cincinnati by his father, a school principal, and his mother who died of colon cancer when Snow was just 17 years old. He graduated from Davidson College in 1977, and began work as a newspaper editor in North Carolina for The Greensboro Record in 1979. His editorial career eventually led him to take over the editorial page at the prestigious The Washington Times from 1987-1991. Throughout the 1990's he worked as a regular columnist at USA Today, made numerous television news appearances, and also was syndicated to over 200 newspapers throughout the country. He took a sabbatical from 1991-1993 to work in the administration of President George H.W. Bush as a speech writer and media assistant. In the mid-90's, Snow took over as the regular substitute host for The Rush Limbaugh Show on radio, and in 2003 began The Tony Snow Show on Fox News radio. Snow had become one of the leading conservative voices in America, making numerous Fox News appearances and often substituting on television for Bill O'Reilly, but his professionalism and fairness gained him the respect from both sides of the aisle in Washington and from his media colleagues across the ideological spectrum. In April of 2006, Tony Snow was named as the new White House Press Secretary, the main face and voice of the administration of President George W. Bush, a position that he held until being overwhelmed by the same colon cancer that had taken the life of his mother 35 years earlier, that would eventually take his life yesterday. Tony was an avid musician who played the flute, trombone, piccolo, accordion, saxophone, and guitar. He was a part of a cover band called Beats Workin' and got to play publicly with members of Jethro Tull, the Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan. Tony Snow is survived by his wife of 21 years, Jill Ellen Walker, two daughters and a son. Not many come along like Tony Snow, who combine class, intelligence, humor, and a general overall good-natured demeanor that comes through no matter what your opinions of his political views. During a time of severe political partisanship in America, the loss of men like Snow and Tim Russert, who passed away a few weeks ago, is a serious blow to American journalism, and a loss for us all.