1 --- Special interests will be the death of us. Here’s the latest from Channel 4 in Santa Fe, New Mexico:

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

We are told there is a very small number of persons who claim to be sensitive to Wi-Fi waves and that all Wi-Fi should be banned from public buildings. They site the Americans with Disabilities Act as a basis to make such a demand.

If indeed there is some problem of this sort then it’s time to review the act which received support from most thinking people many years ago and begin to seriously amend it to suit the needs of the grater public.

It’s one thing to make certain our public structures do not place impediments to people entering and using public facilities. It is an entirely different matter when we must bring society down to a primitive level for some perceived notion of equality. The fact of the matter is people are not equal. A blind person cannot drive a vehicle; a mute cannot be a radio announcer, etc.

If there is a need to protect people from radio waves then maybe some of them should get together to and develop clothing or some other item which can protect them from such waves.

It’s time to protect the greater society from this foolishness.

If you wish to say Wi-Fi is destructive to a small segment of people and therefore they are not getting equal treatment because they must stay out of buildings so equipped (nearly every public facility from government buildings to McDonalds’ maybe we should ban roads and cars so the blind can equally commute with sighted people.

The way to assist those with disabilities is not to place impediments in front of others but assist those in need.

In the words of Santa Fe City Councilor Ron Trujillo most areas are already saturated with wireless Internet.
"It's not 1692, it's 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology; it's not going away,"

2 --- Peggy Noonan, did her usual good job in her recent column in The Wall Street Journal about women in politics versus Hillary.

She points out three real women who overcame seeming insurmountable odds in a man’s world to reach the pinnacle of governance and make mighty contributions. Not once can anyone ascribe the charge of “sexism’ in politics to Golda Meir, Indira Ghandi, and Margaret Thatcher. All three came up in situations lesser characters would have crushed by. They fought the old boy network, defeated it, and earned the respect of its members.

Tell me, how does Hillary stand up compared to that sort of women? How about Condoleezza Rice or Sarah Palin (governor of Alaska)? Hillary is not only 0 for 5, she is not even in the same book as these ladies, all of whom faced tremendous odds and maintained their femininity. Four of them are Moms who faced trials there as well as the political arena.

Hillary, I hope you and Obama are on the same ticket. You’re both whiners with the fortitude of a gnat. God save the Republic if either of you needs to face off with a Castro, Chavez, or Ahmadinejad; they’d eat your lunch and you’d complain they were playing dirty pool.

The Republicans have failed us in not being true to their beliefs. The Democrats of today are in far worse shape. Even Oprah’s ratings have gone into a steep decline after touching the Obama campaign (where has she been since the original announcement?)

This is not the party of Roosevelt, Truman, JFK and Jackson.

3 --- I don’t understand why John McCain would side with George Bush and oppose our plan to make college more affordable for our veterans," the Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama said. "George Bush and John McCain may think our plan is too generous. I could not disagree more."

The Arizona senator opposes the scholarship measure, as does the Pentagon, because it applies to people who serve just three years. He fears that would encourage people to leave the military after only one enlistment even as the U.S. fights two wars and is trying to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps.

Instead, McCain and Republican colleagues proposed a bill to increase benefits in conjunction with a veteran’s length of service. Senate Democrats blocked that measure.

That brings us to the here we go again department we find this item. My guess is Barrack Obama is reeling from the right cross to the chops from John McCain when Obama, from the senate floor, took a swipe at McCain for not supporting that piece of political legislation submitted by Senator Webb of Virginia.

So Obama tells this story published on the CBS News web site:

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Despite not having served in the military himself, Barack Obama used his Memorial Day remarks to speak about his family’s service. “My grandfather marched in Patton’s army, but I cannot know what it is to walk into battle like so many of you,” he told a small group of veterans here. “My grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line, but I cannot know what it is for a family to sacrifice like so many of yours have.” Obama said he supports the new GI Bill because of his grandfather’s experience in the program after World War II.

“We should make sure that today’s veterans get the same benefit that my grandfather got when he came back from World War II,” Obama said. “It was a good investment not only for him, but it was a good investment for the country, built our middle class. So we're going to make sure that that gets passed.” He said President Bush may veto the bill, but he vowed to try and override it if it comes back to the House and Senate.

Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz. He said the family legend is that, upon returning from war, his uncle spent six months in an attic. “Now obviously, something had really affected him deeply, but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain,” Obama said. “That’s why this idea of making sure that every single veteran, when they are discharged, are screened for post-traumatic stress disorder and given the mental health services that they need – that’s why it’s so important.”

I have no way of verifying whether his Granddad served under Patton and presumably was among those who rescued General McAuliffe and his men at Bastogne.

However, I doubt his uncle was involved with the liberation of Auschwitz.

According to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum web site:

On January 27, 1945, the Soviet army entered Auschwitz and liberated more than 7,000 remaining prisoners, who were mostly ill and dying. It is estimated that at minimum 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945; of these, at least 1.1 million were murdered.

That is unless he was in the Joe Stalin Army.

The Clintons are prolific liars and sometimes very hard to pin down. As former Nebraska Senator Robert Kerrey said of them they are very good at lying. I suspect that’s not the case for Obama.

4 --- Who are the three dumbest members of the Congress? Try this for size.

These three Democrats spoke Wednesday about alleged anti-immigrant coverage by conservative media outlets. These same three say they are not aware of a recent State Department travel alert warning Americans about military-like "combat" along the U.S. border with Mexico, where Americans are being kidnapped and murdered.

According to the State Department: “The situation in northern Mexico remains very fluid; the location and timing of future armed engagements there cannot be predicted."

The alert continues in part: “Armed robberies and carjackings, apparently unconnected to the narcotics-related violence, have increased in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez. Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007."

The three have complained bitterly that CNN and Fox News Channel should be held accountable for television personalities who have "played major roles in creating this anti-immigrant hysteria," specifically Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck on CNN and Bill O'Reilly on Fox.

Who are the three dumbkovs? New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, Reps. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Hilda Solis of California. They express more of a concern for the difficulties illegal and legal aliens may face because of the anger about illegal immigration in the United States.

With that in mind they should represent a district in Mexico.

5 --- A lot has been made of Obama’s skin color. I’m not concerned in any way with that. I find the thinness of his hide to be of greater concern. Toughness, thy name is not Obama, Barrack or Michelle.

Michelle said the following many times before it was picked up by various Republican and conservative organizations: “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country.”

Is it negative advdrtising to use the words of the person with the single most influence on the man who may be president to gain insight on how she reaslly feels about American and it’s traditions.

Not everything America and Americans have done are worthy of praise. Certainly our treatment of many Native Americans and slavery stand out as monumental wrongs as did the encarceration and confescation of property belonging to Japanese Americans during World War II. That’s nothing to be proud of. But whenever we have had wrongs to right we have tried to do so.

In Oak Grove Cemetary in Fall River is a monument and burial groung for hundrfeds of its natives who served in the Civil War, many of whom were killed in action and many of those who returned with parts of their bodies missing.

The great Civil Rights movement was populated with hundreds of thousands of white people. We have bent over backwards, even at the expense of passing over more qualified majority people to open doors for people of color. It was Americans who put an end to the tyrany of the Nazis, Fascists and Imperial Japan. We put down the monstruous Soviet Union and are today locked in mortal combat with Islamo-ascist terrorism throughour the world.

There are lots of ocassions to call into question America’s actions, but I can only say I am proud of America and what she has done.

Is there any place in the world an Africa American would find a better life? Ditto for virtually all of us.

6 --- You may have heard this one before, but it’s still funny (and accurate). Our friend Ron S. sent this in:

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her Altitude and spotted a man in a bass boat below. She shouted to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, 'You're in a hot air Balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.'

She rolled her eyes and said, 'You must be a Republican.'

'I am,' replied the bass fisherman. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answered the balloonist, ' everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me.'

The man smiled and responded, 'You must be a Democrat.'

'I am,' replied the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' said the bass fisherman, 'you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my Fault.'

7 --- Friday night Richard Viguerie, big time Republican fund raiser, in his keynote address at the Libertarian Party convention took aim at his former party:

"Republican leaders have treated conservatives with utter disrespect and, in turn, conservatives have lost all respect for Republican leaders. Millions of grassroots conservative activists and donors have left the Republican Party and taken with them their volunteer time, their checkbooks, and their votes. . . . Today, the Libertarian Party has a historic opportunity to provide leadership for America."

More bad news for McCain and the GOP: The Libertarian Party has picked former Republican Rep. Bob Barr to be its presidential candidate after six rounds of balloting.

In a closely contested state Barr could hold the balance of winning and losing.

John McCain and the Republican Party take conservatives for granted at their own peril.

8 --- An old friend, a former City Councilor in the area, wrote the following letter in support of getting rid of the stupid laws requiring the use of 10% ethanol in our gasoline. His letter is a primer for those wishing to learn more about this wrongheaded energy policy in the name of finding solutions for the current energy crisis. The crisis is self administered and ethanol is a part of it.

He asked the letter run here to encourage others to write EPA regarding this senseless use of food.

To: EPA / Jim Caldwell: Subject: Docket No: EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0380; FRL-8569];[FR Doc: E8-11486];[Page 29753-29755];

Receipt of a Request from the State of Texas for a Waiver of a Portion of the Renewable Fuel Standard

I am writing to wholeheartedly support the petition of the State of Texas to waive the absurd requirements to use ethanol in gasoline.

In fact, the entire ethanol requirement should be abolished. Adding ethanol to gasoline is a wasteful, inefficient, politically motivated scheme which does nothing to help the environment but rather is a major factor in raising both food and fuel prices.

Converting corn into ethanol is inefficient because the ethanol produced results in less energy value than the energy needed to produce it. Even more absurd is the wasteful tax subsidy and tariff barrier that makes ituneconomical to import more efficient sources of ethanol such as ethanol produced from Brazilian sugar cane. Wastefully producing ethanol from corn is contributing to raising food and gasoline prices by artificially increasing the demand for corn the price of which has more than doubled in recent years. This price increase disproportionately harms the poor both in the USA and throughout the world and is especially harmful in the current inflationary climate when people everywhere are struggling to feed their families and buy gas for their cars because of price increases.The entire ridiculous ethanol mandate would not even exist were it not for the fact that corn-producing Iowa has a disproportionate influence on the Presidential nominating process!

The Texas proposal is a minor step in reducing the negative consequences that this absurd mandate has produced.

Every State Governor should be following the example of Texas Governor Rick Perry and demand a waiver from the ethanol mandate.

To which we add, Amen!

9 --- I note with some confusion. Home values are dropping which means the equity we have in them is not as great as it was. If you’re trying to sell, sorry, it is now a buyers market. Much of the equity has come in the form of a run up in value rather than mortgage payments. I doubt there are very many, with the exception of those who bought in the last couple of years or speculators, who have a serious problem with the prices.

For most people the lower prices have no impact because even if they are planning to sell, it is usually with the intent to move up in the market for a better home, whose prices are also lower. For the overwhelming majority it is a wash.

I recall listening to caller after caller bemoaning the prices of homes which made it more difficult, and for some impossible, to get into home ownership. The other complaint was the prices condos were selling for as well. The high prices caused a lot of displacement of lower income people from what had been ordinary apartments. I suspect landlords are content with renting again rather than condo conversion.

We are witnessing what a free market will do, which is to correct prices to a range many more can afford.

Who is hurt most from the drop in real estate prices? Simply, mortgage lenders and borrowers who were less than honest inflating income figures and adjusting other data to make bad loans were hurt. Historically these sleazy practices aside from being illegal when done by insured lenders, the lenders simply foreclosed and found more suckers to get into he same trap. Now these lenders are hoisted on their own petard. They are taking a berating and looking to the taxpayer to bail them out.

Frankly, this market adjustment is a good thing. Real lenders will be more careful and legitimate buyers will be more honest. Now, more lower income people will once again have an opportunity to get in on “The American Dream” of home ownership.

Ciao…….Moe