Elvis - The King of Rock and Roll

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January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977

Today is the 75th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley, husband of Priscilla Presley, father of Lisa Marie Presley and one time father-in-law to Michael Jackson. As I have written before, 32 years after his death Elvis continues to make far more money than he ever did during his 42 years of life, topping $55 million in 2009 alone with an international tour of his music scheduled for 2010.



In his early years the only way we could hear Elvis records in the Bible belt was when friends in the military were stationed in the south and would bring back Elvis recordings. Over time I got to see him twice in concert including during his last tour in 1977. It was June 19 in Omaha, Nebraska and RCA was recording the concert for a new Elvis project. One week later, June 26, he performed his last concert in Indianapolis and died three weeks later.



This much I can tell you. His voice was as powerful as ever that June in 1977 though he appeared to be physically exhausted. There was a certain melancholy in his voice as if he wanted one last time to give his fans what they expected. When he performed his ballets and gospel songs like My Way and The Impossible Dream there was not a dry eye in the auditorium.

Presley almost single-handedly created the genre of rockabilly and rock and roll and he was the first white person to merge the Black blues and gospel with country rock. In 1973 Elvis performed the first global concert via satellite and 1.5 billion people tuned in making it the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in history, including to this day.



The dance sequence from his movie Jailhouse Rock has been considered one of the best motion picture dance sequences ever recorded which he choreographed himself and I hope you will take a look at the number on the YouTube video I added. This is the Elvis we will always remember, the shy kid from Tupelo, Mississippi who grew up to become King of the world.

College Football Bowl Games - It was a Very Good Year

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Okay, I grew up in the Heartland where college football rules. It was a ritual going to the big games on Saturdays and the last time I went to games in my hometown of Iowa City, Iowa, home of the University of Iowa, Iowa played in the 1959 Rose Bowl for the second time in three years. They won. It was the last time they would win a major college bowl until yesterday in the Orange Bowl.



This year they played Georgia Tech, the favorite, and Iowa strong-armed their way to a 24-14 win over the ACC champion. Both my parents went to the University of Iowa along with a herd of relatives. It was a delight to sit with my Irish Wolfhound and watch the victory and I am thrilled for the University, my hometown and the state.



But that is not all. I lived in Nebraska for 14 years and spent a year taking classes at NU, while both my kids graduated from the University of Nebraska. I was there when the University of Nebraska rose to national football powerhouse and won five national championships. The 1971 Nebraska team is rated the greatest college football team in history. Check out these plays by the 1971 Cornhuskers.



At Nebraska winning was expected and over 300 straight stadium sellouts tell the story. This was a rebuilding year with a new coach and still Nebraska went 10-3 during the season with one loss to high ranked West Virginia in the last second. In the Big 12 championship game they lost to Texas by 1 point after time had expired. Texas is playing for the national championship. Nebraska then beat Arizona 33-0 in the San Diego Holiday Bowl.



Which brings up another of my teams, Arizona. The Wildcats were 8-4 and finished second in the PAC 10. I went to school at the University of Arizona and had mixed loyalties. One of those losses this year was to Iowa. But Arizona was in a major bowl and had a great year so losing to Nebraska was a great learning experience. Did I mention I was a jock at Arizona and was quite enamored with the cheerleaders? This UA coed was chosen national cheerleader of the month by Sports Illustrated.



All three of my teams will have most players back next year. Perhaps a national championship awaits?

Great work Hawkeyes, Cornhuskers and Wildcats. You made this a most enjoyable year.

Now a final note. When I was young I was enchanted by the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders, a group no one believes existed as where do you find college football bands composed of bagpipes? Well take a step back in time and watch the history and a performance by the Highlanders in videos in this story. I remember sneaking up to the stadium and watching the girls practice. Later I learned my ancestors on my mother's side were from Scotland.



Created in 1936 by Colonel George Dailey, the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders started out as an all male band, connected to the university's R.O.T.C. department. Introduced to the public, the enthusiasm was overwhelming as Dailey was approached by many male students who wanted to join this new and unique group. Col. Dailey then hired William Adamson of Boston, to instruct and direct the growing band.

In 1937, the Scottish Highlanders first began to perform at University of Iowa Hawkeye football games. The band continued to grow in numbers and popularity until the early 1940's, when World War Two depleted the male students on campus. In 1943, Adamson made the decision to open membership to female students. Hundreds applied, and soon, the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders became the largest all female bagpipe band in the world.



In the decades that followed, the Highlanders became extremely popular and world famous. Besides performing at halftime at Iowa Hawkeye football games (and one Big Ten away game per season), the Scottish Highlanders have performed before millions around the world, both in person and on television. Noteworthy appearances include The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, New York World's Fair, Chicago's St. Patrick's Day Parade, two Rose Bowls, and Disneyland plus Disneyworld.

The Highlanders have been ambassadors for their university, the state of Iowa, and the United States, during seven world tours, starting in 1952, where they were greeted by large, appreciative crowds in Scotland, England, France, and across Europe.



Sadly In the Spring of 1981, the University of Iowa eliminated the Highlander's budget, and the band's glory days were gone. The Scottish Highlanders continue today as a small student group on the Iowa campus. Thanks so much for the memories of my heritage.

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Taylor Swift carries Country Music industry but may soon be lost to Pop

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Carrie Underwood - Yet Another Country Act Like Taylor Swift Lost to Pop?



Country music continued a decline in sales dropping 9% in 2009 although it was not because of Taylor Swift whose Fearless album was the top seller of the year in all categories of music and her millions of sales and sold out tours kept the country music industry from falling flat on it's face.



Like it or not Taylor Swift is a genuine pop star and her sweep of all kinds of awards this year have established that beyond a doubt. But she belongs in the pop world. Her lyrics, music, videos and appearances long ago left country music behind. More important, she made it with the sacrifice and help of her mother, not the production company from American Idol like Carrie Underwood, and all the while Taylor has carefully maintained creative control of her life while Carrie never had creative control.

In fact I was surprised Taylor Swift bought a condo in Nashville and not Los Angeles but with her wealth a second mansion in LA should be just around the corner. She should enjoy and take advantage of her position as the top selling female artist of all genres of music this year. To young Taylor Swift country was a stepping stone, not the end game.



Like a young Olivia Newton John, Taylor's transition from new country artist of the year to pop was lightning quick. As she solidifies her position in the pop world through her media savvy and television show appearances she will take along with her the millions of adoring fans who were new to country music this past year because they were not country fans in the first place but young teens who related to Swift and her saga of a teen's life.



She has a lot in common with her friend Miley Cyrus who is a wannabe fellow Disney protégé like Britney Spears, at least a Britney without all the hang ups, and also a young teen sensation. Country music is not their natural home, lifestyle or future.

Forget their roots, Hollywood has first claim on these rising stars with the combination of a far greater pop fan base, motion picture and television contracts, TV appearances and more money than Midas. It is a pretty irresistible lure for a teen queen and perhaps more so for someone later in their career. In truth they should capture the moment for such a moment may never come again in a lifetime. Celebrity worship in America is a very fickle and overwhelming occupational hazard.



Carrie Underwood is not Swift however. Urban backgrounds and leather outfits do not make one a pop star. Hers will be a more difficult path than that of her younger peers like Taylor and Miley. Underwood could have been a country queen but in the end I fear her country music career will suffer as she continues to push her way into the pop field. None of the ladies mentioned are pure country or even country pop and their fan base has not helped other artists sell records unless they happen to be touring with Taylor Swift.

Yet the country record labels will be betting their futures on finding the next Taylor Swift and more traditional country music will be pushed farther into the background with less opportunities for record deals and less opportunities for older, established artists. We will watch the next five years as country labels chase the dream of the next Taylor Swift and lightning doesn't strike that often. While pop songs and teen stars are pushed on the public the real country writers and artists will once again be shoved into the background with the door slammed shut rather than opened.

The handful of kings and queens of country will still rein supreme but the aspiring country songwriters and artists will have to adopt the pop genre to get a deal and make it on the concert tour. Once again country music seems to be self-destructing in the interest of maintaining formula songs and copycat acts.

Once upon a time country music encompassed a great range of styles and looks. Once upon a time country was the innovative genre in music and country fans embraced a wide diversity of styles and looks but once upon a time seems to be a thing of the past. In the world of today many great older acts will be pushed into early retirement by an industry whose obsession with the dollar will always trump their interest in preserving all that is good about country music.

As for Carrie Underwood, who could be a country artist, her handlers have demonstrated over and over again that the American Idol approach is the only one. How much do they understand the record buying public? Well they have captured some impressive pop sales from Idol but look at the enormous exposure it took to pull it off. Any aspiring artist given a television audience of 20-30 million week after week could sell records.



But do they always know what works? Simon Cowell is the genius behind American Idol and locks up the singers participating with his music company. He then works out deals with record labels to sell the records. Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson are country singers who won American Idol and both are being pushed into the pop fields. Surprised? Don't be. Look at the demographic profile of American Idol, which the New York Times’s Bill Carter described as “a phenomenon built on new artists singing mainly middle-of-the-road pop songs of the ’60s and ’70s.”



Susan Boyle, the frumpy Scottish loser of the British version of American Idol, also controlled by Cowell, came within an eyelash of beating Taylor Swift out for the most album sales of 2009 with her new and first CD, I Dreamed a Dream, shooting past 3 million in sales the first month. Music companies thought it would not succeed because she mixed a variety of pop styles on it and it was primarily marketed as a real CD, the kind you had to buy in stores.

The same American Idol team produced Carrie Underwood's televised holiday special that I watched just before Christmas and it confirmed my belief that yet another young country music artist has been lost to the lurid lure of the pop world joining fellow rising star Taylor Swift.



The special was billed as a holiday feature but there was very little country or holiday in it as far as I could see. The producers chose to have Ms. Underwood start the show by forsaking all that is good about country and appearing in a skin tight leather outfit far more suited to a Las Vegas lounge than a family audience. Even her song, Casanova Cowboy, was far from a holiday offering.

It was the same when Underwood and two friends, all white, pimped the Black groups of the 1960's and sang songs like Leader of The Pack, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, and Be My Baby with Kristen Chenoweth and Christina Applegate.



Her pop arrangements along with several others was most certainly intended for the American Idol audience, not CMT, and though she did have Brad Paisley and Dolly Pardon appear, they were almost after thoughts to the pop feel and urban bawdiness projected throughout. They almost seemed uncomfortable being part of the show.

The sexy costumes, staging and songs were far from the country music I grew up listening to and watching, and were augmented by rather stupid skits about Jesus and gays which contributed nothing to the holiday season or Underwood reputation. If it were billed as anything but a family, holiday, country music special it would not matter.

Other skits made Carrie out to be an egotist which hardly seemed to be the Underwood I remembered. Clearly the American Idol crowd who controlled the special and control Underwood have no clue about the value of traditional American music during the holiday season. More clearly, they are trapped in their own egos and developed a script for Underwood that made her seem like a juvenile jerk.

Anyway, it was symptomatic of the perilous future for the country music industry. It was almost as if she was reaching far beyond her comfort zone to try and establish her standing in the Taylor Swift world of pop music, as if saying I belong there and I was first. It hardly seems like the Underwood of the past but it is consistent with the American Idol money machine.

Taylor Swift found her own way to the world of pop with her independence, charisma and hard work. No multi-million audiences every week on American Idol. Carrie Underwood had the audiences and sold out to the show producers and now is being pushed out of country into the more profitable pop world. Time will tell if it is a smart move.

Country music in general, and aspiring country writers and artists in particular will be the ones to really suffer. They have no where else to go until the Internet takes over the future direction of the country music industry from the ditto record labels.

Tiger Woods - The "Just Do It!" Man "Did It!"

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Okay, I have avoided Tiger and his off course habits since the story first broke waiting for the media to either leave him alone or start telling the truth about him but so far the media has been pre-occupied with trying to build a calendar of Tiger's mistresses while not paying a lot of attention to the facts.

How could America's most reclusive sports figure with the choirboy image who made over a billion dollars, the man who helped Nike sell the slogan "Just Do It!", fall from grace at warp speed because he "Did It!"? Better yet, why does the trigger happy news media so intent on documenting his sexual escapades ignore one of the most likely causes of such a radical change in a celebrity?



The facts, Tiger has an addiction to sex and after a life of self-induced isolation in which he was the star of his own sex show he got caught. A greater fact, I believe drugs could have been a major factor in his descent into Hell and the collapse of his world of fantasy. I am not talking about illegal drugs but the prescription type including steroids that killed Elvis and Michael Jackson.

Just look at the following series of photos and in particular look at his arms. In the first he won his first pro tournament in 1996, the second was his first Masters in 1997, twelve years ago. By the third photo about 2005 there was a noticeable change in his physical strength. The final photos show him today and include his most recent Vanity Fair photo shoot. His arms grew dramatically in strength, the kind of growth only seen with the help of the American athletes nectar of the gods, steroids and hormones.









But sustained steroids use has a number of side effects and the superman complex along with bizarre behavior can be part of it. If he spent his years in pro golf taking steroids it means his performance was not based on skill but on illegal prescription drugs. It also means he did not earn the titles fairly any more than Barry Bonds or Mark McGuire earned the home run record in baseball. Artificial stimulation is not an acceptable training technique.



On December 15 of last year the New York Times newspaper ran the following story which is partially reprinted here.

The New York Times
Sports Medicine Pioneer Subject of Doping Inquiry

This article was reported by Don Van Natta Jr., Michael S. Schmidt and Ian Austen and written by Mr. Van Natta Jr.



A Canadian doctor who has treated many NFL players as well as Olympic medalists like Donavan Bailey and the world’s top golfer, Tiger Woods, is under criminal investigation in the United States. He is suspected of providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation.

The F.B.I. investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea, a sports medicine specialist who has treated hundreds of professional athletes across many sports, follows his arrest on Oct. 15 in Toronto by the Canadian police. Human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf’s blood, were found in his medical bag at the United States-Canada border in late September. Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States.

Dr. Galea is also being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for smuggling, advertising and selling unapproved drugs as well as criminal conspiracy. He is tentatively scheduled to appear in a Canadian courtroom on Friday.

Dr. Galea and his lawyer say his innovative treatments do not break any laws or violate antidoping rules in sport. “We’re confident that an investigation of Dr. Galea will lead to his total vindication,” said Brian H. Greenspan, Dr. Galea’s criminal-defense lawyer. “Dr. Galea was never engaged in any wrongdoing or any impropriety. Not only does he have a reputation that is impeccable, he is a person at the very top of his profession.”

Dr. Galea has developed a reputation among elite athletes for accelerating recovery after surgery or for helping them avoid surgery altogether by using a blood-spinning technique known as platelet-rich plasma therapy, as well as other pioneering procedures, on knees, elbows and Achilles’ tendons.

Although he said he prescribed human growth hormone to some patients in his general practice and had used it himself for 10 years, Dr. Galea, 50, said in an interview that he had never treated professional athletes with H.G.H.

Dr. Galea said Mr. Woods was referred to him by the golfer’s agents at Cleveland-based International Management Group, who were alarmed at the slow pace of Mr. Woods’s rehabilitation after knee surgery in June 2008. The doctor said he flew to Orlando, Fla., at least four times to give Mr. Woods the platelet therapy at his home in Windermere, Fla., in February and March of this year. When asked for comment about Mr. Woods’s involvement with Dr. Galea, Mark Steinberg, of I.M.G., responded in an e-mail message: “I would really ask that you guys don’t write this? If Tiger is NOT implicated, and won’t be, let’s please give the kid a break.”

Dr. Galea’s legal problems began in late September when his assistant was stopped entering the United States from Canada. Her car was searched by border-crossing guards and authorities found Dr. Galea’s medical bag, which contained four drugs, including human growth hormone, Dr. Galea said. “It was for my own use,” he said.

The authorities also seized his laptop computer and a sonogram machine, he said. His assistant, he said, often drove him around and that was why his belongings were in her car. The assistant, whom Dr. Galea declined to identify, has stopped working at his clinic and, he said, is now cooperating with the authorities.

Federal investigators in the United States are basing their investigation, in part, on medical information found on Dr. Galea’s computer relating to several professional athletes he treated, according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation.

They did not identify any of the athletes whose names appeared on the computer.

Dr. Galea said “it would be impossible” for the authorities to have found information linking any of his athletes to performance-enhancing drugs.

On Oct. 15, the Canadian police raided Dr. Galea’s clinic, the ISM Health & Wellness Centre in Toronto. Sgt. Marc LaPorte, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said Dr. Galea was arrested and released the same day after questioning. Mr. Greenspan said court documents, which are not public under Canadian law, show that his client faces three charges, one under Canada’s food and drugs act, one under its customs act and a conspiracy charge under the criminal code. The customs and the drug charges relate to the misrepresentation of goods and drugs.

As part of his practice, Dr. Galea said he prescribed human growth hormone to patients 40 and over to improve their stamina when working out and to combat fatigue, among other health benefits.

“The authorities here and elsewhere have it wrong,” Mr. Greenspan said. “They don’t understand the medical aspects.”

Prescribing human growth hormone is legal in Canada but approved in the United States only for a few specific uses that do not include hastening recovery from surgery or injury. In the world of sports, under World Anti-Doping Association guidelines, H.G.H. is banned though not widely tested for because it requires a blood test. The N.F.L., the N.H.L., the N.B.A. and Major League Baseball do not test for H.G.H.

Ten years ago, when he turned 40, Dr. Galea said he began injecting himself with human growth hormone five days a week. Using H.G.H., he said, may allow him a longer lifespan with his wife, who he said is 22 years younger. “If the body is healthy, then your mind and intellect are free to study, to feed your spirit,” he said during one of several lengthy phone interviews over the past several days.

[end of article clip]



So, we have a Canadian and FBI criminal investigation underway concerning a doctor to Tiger Woods who is being investigated for falsifying the identity of drugs he prescribed, giving illegal substances to athletes, and who knows what else. It would only be natural that a billionaire athlete might seek out his help. Based on the startling physical changes in Tiger Woods over his 12 year career it appears he might have started some time ago.

Why did the American media bury this story? Very little if anything has been written since the arrest of the doctor as he crossed the border. We know he was at Tiger's home multiple times earlier this year treating him. What don't we know? And even the rather arrogant doctor claims his records would not implicate athletes in a drug scandal.

Of course not, since the Canadians have already charged him with falsifying the names of the illegal drugs in his records. However, there may be a lot more to this criminal investigation since the doctor's assistant who was intimately involved in the treatments turned informant for the governments and quit her job with the doctor. Stay tuned for more.


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Obama - The Harvard President - Are We Better Off Today than a Year Ago?

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Congress and the White House lost a golden opportunity to make America energy independent this year when they forgot to capture all the hot air this year in our nation's capitol. The green energy movement would have been stopped in it's tracks if they had paid attention.

It was a mean and nasty year for debating between the politicians from both parties and it was most certainly inspired by the attitude of being neighborhood bullies evoked from the White House and Little Napoleon Rohm Emanuel. Then again, what could we expect with all that "experience" in the new White House.



As for the president, he wowed the international community before giving them ulcers with his promises and then waffling on a whole host of foreign issues and in the process upset some of our best allies like Russia and China. Most of the world remains at the end of the first year as it was before the Obama cornation. In fact, most things in America are very much the same as they were at the beginning of last year.

Health care reform got unreformed on the way through the Senate but in the high and lofty words of our Ivy League president any health care bill is better than none so we at least might end the year a step better than none. There is still time for Congress to not double cross the public and reject the debacle but the president will try to force through a mangled bill. Tell Congress to "just say no" to the fraud.



The green revolution we were promised remains a distant dream. Cap and Trade was put under the microscope and failed the test of merit. It still languishes in Congress along with all the other promises. We have the ability to become energy independent by improving efficiency with current fuels available and abundant to America, oil and natural gas, if we can stop the Wall Street (Gore) and socialist interests who have hijacked the environmental movement. Once again just tell Congress to say No!



Obama did get Guantanamo on it's way to being closed but only because he is moving most of the inmates to Illinois and creating a few hundred jobs. However, with this administration, Biden assures us jobs are jobs. The same Biden who is saving the American economy one job at a time in spite of the cost of over $500,000 for every job Obama has saved or created with Stimulus money.



Watch for the price tag for the new Gitmo on the Mississippi to rocket past $100 million pushing the new cost per job under the Obama-Biden jobs program over $1 million per job the first year. Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay people $50,000 a year to not work? Then again, maybe the administration is making a mockery of the stimulus jobs cost to force us into an expanded welfare and income redistribution program.



Thanks to our progressive president we are also going to be spending more than $77 million on security for terrorist trials that didn't need to be in NYC, on top of the $100 million or so for moving the hundred prisoners from Cuba to Illinois. The Obama-Biden-Pelosi stimulus bill job costs seem to be out of control. Wish I understood the Ivy League economic principles.



Speaking of the Ivy League and our president with the detached demeanor of a tenured Ivy League professor funded by a wealthy endowment fund, now is the time to ask if are you better off under a president from Harvard rather than the previous three presidents from Yale? After 20 years of Yale rule under Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2, the first year under Harvard Obama rule didn't do a lot for me. However, Wall Street fat cats seem to be pleased by the direction the country is moving.



As for the Obama campaign promises, they were never meant to be taken seriously, that is the currnt state of politics in America. It is also why politicians rank at the bottom of the barrel in terms of the eyes of the public, just below the news media. "Throw them all out" sounds better every day.

Speaking of our jet setter president, Obama broke all kinds of records for presidential travel expenses this year with very expensive trips to Copenhagen twice while returning empty handed (the Olympics and Global Warming) , trips to China and Russia and who knows where else also returning empty handed. It seems the only trip that resulted in something was his fly-over of New Orleans on his way to San Francisco to pick up a few million campaign bucks.

Obama's most successful stimulus program was when he packed his family and a couple of hundred security and staff to go to Cape Cod on vacation and then to NYC and Broadway for a play. Based on what happened in Washington this past year, it was probably a good thing Obama spent so much time globe trotting as think of the mess if he had remained in Washington at the office.

Washington spin this year reached new lows as the president and both parties seemed to think the public would never check the facts on what they promised and how they viewed the world. The only truth we could find is that we set record spending deficits, added to a record national debt, and still had time to promise global warming people $100 billion a year and maybe pass a health care bill that might cost another trillion or two.

Iran has made more progress on nuclear arms since Obama started making advances to them. Israel still does whatever it wants with American money despite the threats from the Obama people. North Korea even got Bill Clinton to come over and pick up a couple of Al Gore's girls captured in North Korea and still North Korea ignores Obama pleas to negotiate.

Wall Street got away with the biggest raid of the American Treasury in history and didn't even get their wrists slapped by Obama and Congress. Most reforms haven't reformed anything to date. Michelle Obama did touch the Queen of England, a major diplomatic breakthrough. The pres bowed to the Saudi's and Chinese setting off an international debate on protocol and etiquette.

According to Glenn Beck there were more terrorists on the White House staff than in Afghanistan or Pakistan. According to national polls, Sarah Palin has now become more popular than Barack Obama. According to inside reports, no less than a dozen top progressive elitists have threatened suicide if the Palin polls are correct.



Katie Couric blames Sarah Palin for her consistently poor Nielsen ratings. Oprah, on the other hand, got a huge increase in ratings when Palin dropped by her show. In fact Palin is the most sought after hated celebrity by the Hollywood television shows in history. She is also the most respected non-politician in America for her values and principles.

Oh yes, and Palin just topped Al Gore nearly doubling his favorable numbers in a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. Of course NBC has not mentioned the poll on the air and Palin's numbers are certain to be even better now after the Gore Obama fiasco at the Copenhagen Global Warming Conference. And speaking of Copenhagen, Obama might want to cross that off his list of places to keep visiting after his Chicago Olympics and Global Warming disasters.



I say the only good Cap and Trade program is if we cap Gore's mouth and trade him to Copenhagen for a couple of their famous red sausage. Barney Frank should be made the new Housing Secretary since he already pushed through the progressive reforms that destroyed the housing market in America. The White House economic team, Emanuel and a host of Obama Treasury officials have done all the damage possible to the American economy so maybe they can move on.

Obama should set up shop in Hollywood since the only accomplishment that might do the country good would be for him to spend the next three years writing his life story and filming the movie of how he saved America from those fools on Main Street.



In short, it was a weird and wild first year for our young savior turned socialist and the guest list at the White House read like a casting call for a new epic on how the radical rebels of the 1960's waited nearly 50 years before finally taking control of the very institution they were sworn to destroy. Maybe Obama should spend more time on his basketball court in the White House and less in the oval office or on television.

What is Wrong with America?

Throughout the past year I have been reporting on the many disturbing trends in America that threaten to undermine the foundation of our nation. It seems all the institutions we rely on to keep things fair have failed. This includes the president, the White House, Congress, the Democrats and Republicans, Wall Street, banks, lobbyists, politicians, media and many more.

Perhaps we should go back in time to Thomas Paine, whose publication of Common Sense during the formation of our nation helped lead us in the right direction. Please take the time to watch the following YouTube video made by Bob Basso, author of the modern version of "Common Sense", who plays the role of Thomas Paine to ignite the fire of change in America. Patriotism and Pride for America lead Thomas Paine to help take back America!




He is fighting our battle for us and we better get involved before it is too late.

Top Cartoon of 2009

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The Coltons Point Times Christmas 2009 Message to You

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We would like to share with you scenes from our 2009 Christmas snowstorm as we bring the year to a close and look back on the tumulous end of another decade in America. Having survived a lot the last ten years we need to breathe a sigh of relief and thank God we are still here to fight the battles that lie ahead.



From the tragedy of the World Trade Center to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the out of control economy and economic collapse it brought about it was a breathtaking decade with a mosaic of good, bad, historic and tragic interwoven into a nation and a world in turmoil.



Still we survived. George Bush was welcomed into office with the first attack on American soil while Barack Obama closed the decade bringing down one of the last racial barriers being elected president. Oprah rose to number one while Martha Stewart went to jail after being number one.



The Red Sox's broke an 86 year jinx and won the World Series in 2004 while the Yankees, after winning their third straight world series in 2000, waited until the last year of the decade, 2009, to win their 27th World Series Championship.



Tiger Woods was the most prolific golfer in history for a decade before his fall from grace this fall. The Manning brothers won Super Bowls, while Jimmy Johnson became the first NASCAR driver in history to win four straight Sprint Club Championships and then be selected the first NASCAR driver to be named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in the 78 year history of the award.



Taylor Swift was the first teenage country singer (she just turned 20) to be named the Associated Press Entertainer of the Year, entertainer in all categories, not just music. So why did AP members voted for Swift? According to AP, Danielle L. Kiracofe, who is the entertainment editor for the military mag, Stars and Stripes and admires the young singer. "In a time of 'made' musicians, she writes her own songs and has her own sparkly style. She's managed to do all of this with grace, class and poise and without uttering a swear word, dancing on a pole or wearing next to nothing. At the age of 20."



We gained a new Queen in the music world Taylor Swift and lost the old King, Michael Jackson. Elvis Presley made more money in 2009, over $55 million, 32 years after his death than he ever made while living. In death Michael Jackson may surpass the beloved King of Rock and Roll. And speaking of mergers, Michael Jackson was once married to Elvis's daughter.



By the end of the decade more people got their news from the internet and news bloggers had a higher credibility rating for delivering quality news. We had the biggest fraud in history, Bernie Madoff, biggest executive bonuses in history, Goldman Sachs, biggest raid on the US Treasury in history, Wall Street and Washington, and biggest losers, politicians, not fat people.



All in all it was another decade in the life of the United States and we are just delighted to survive. We hope you enjoy the beautiful scenes from the snowstorm this week in Coltons Point, the birthplace of religious freedom in America. And we want to leave you with our annual message.



For all people of the world we offer prayers and hope for world peace and wish you happy holidays for (Christian) Christmas, (African) Kwanzaa, (Hispanic) Las Posadad-Noche Buena-Navidad, (Jewish) Hanukkah-Rosh Hashanah, (Persian) Yalda, (Islamic) Eid al-Adha-Muharram, (Buddhist) Rohatsu, (Hindu) Sankranti, (Celtic) Winter Solstice and (Chinese) New Year.

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