Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Obamaville March 14 - Primaries and March Madness - America's Entertainment

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International Negotiations American Style

For those of you who think we like to mix politics and entertainment, you got it right.  Last night was the pre-opening round of the NCAA tournament when those teams "on the bubble", yet another odd form of media slang, had to play to get into the tournament.

There were two NCAA games and four NIT games and March Madness doesn't even start until tomorrow.  Make no mistake, however, this is really big stuff, much more important than political primaries.


Why even UK Prime Minister David Cameron flew in and he and President Obama took a break from critical world affairs to run down to Dayton, Ohio for the night to see one of the NCAA play-in games.

Play-in games were an underhanded trick by the NCAA to allow more teams into the tournament without adding a huge number of teams, so four teams play each other for the right to play in the NCAA.  In truth it was a way to take advantage of the massive money made from tournament games.

Of course as the last teams to qualify they get the worst seeding so what does that mean to the winner of these games, they play the top seeded teams in the tourney in their next game. So Western Kentucky, after staging the greatest four minute comeback in NCAA tournament history, now has to face the top team in the nation, the mighty Kentucky Wildcats who are the concensus favorite to win the national championship.  The game is in Louisville.

By the way, as our two heads of state watched on Western Kentucky staged the greatest five minute comeback in NCAA history as they came from 16 points down to win 59-58 over Mississippi Valley State.


The next game in Dayton saw even more history made as BYU staged the greatest comeback in the NCAA history by coming from 25 points behind.  Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points in 2001 when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the national semifinals.

Back to our leaders, we all know Obama loves basketball.  In fact it has been good for basketball and good for Obama politically.  But the Brits, well they have a little problem with strange games in the colonies such as basketball and leaders going out for a good time. Check out this fun report of the game by the London Daily Mail.


The London Daily Mail

Don't risk looking like a basket case, Dave

By Melissa Kite

PUBLISHED:| UPDATED:

British Prime Ministers are good at many things, but high-fiving whilst eating hotdogs has never been one of them.

David Cameron did his best to look like he was enjoying all the slam-dunking action at the basketball, but this really isn’t our thing, is it? I mean, the only thing we Brits have ever put in a basket for cultural or leisure purposes is a piece of chicken.

Barak Obama invited Mr Cameron to watch Western Kentucky University take on Mississippi Valley State in the opening game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball tournament, known as March Madness, apparently.

At half-time, the pair were interviewed by Clark Kellogg of CBS Sports and Mr Cameron, an Old Etonian more used to cricket, rugby and The Eton Wall game, tried to pretend he was lovin’ it.

The Prime Minister said: “I'm enjoying it. It's fast, it's pretty fast and furious. It's hard to follow sometimes exactly who's done what wrong.”

Which is a bit like British politics, I suppose. One minute you’re a popular leader in an open-necked shirt hugging hoodies, the next minute you’ve got a fractious coalition to lead and just when you should be worrying about your Budget statement and an impending re-shuffle, you have to get on a plane to the United States and eat hot dogs in front of the cameras at a basketball match.


Asked if the President was helping him make sense of it all, Mr Cameron said: “He's giving me some tips. He's going to help me fill out my bracket.”

I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing it’s not about the pair of them doing a spot of DIY shelf assembly.

It’s always the same when British Prime Ministers meet US Presidents. Remember the banter when Tony Blair hobnobbed with George W Bush at Camp David? There was some gobbledegook talked then about how they used the same toothpaste.

In the effort to be folksy and populist, to mingle British and American culture together to achieve a sort of transatlantic mateyness, something always gets lost in translation.

It makes you long for the days when world leaders simply held talks behind closed doors then gave a short press conference in the Rose Garden. At least we could understand what they were on about.


What about the political primaries?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  Santorum was the surprise winner of both Mississippi and Alabama although I don't understand why the media was surprised since the two states are 80% evangelical and Santorum is the pride of the social moral majority issues.

A bigger surprise was how that liberal from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, managed to split the vote with Preacher Santorum and Professor Gingrich.  Since Mitt also won primaries in Hawaii and Guam he actually finished third in the two southern states (just barely) yet still walked away with more delegates to the GOP convention.

So I guess the lesson this week is losing can still be winning in politics in America.
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America's Newest Heroine - Lori Anne Madison

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Lori becomes 1st 6 year old to qualify for National Spelling Bee

America loves and needs a new heroine and our newest comes in a diminutive package packed with knowledge, smarts and wit, 6 year old Lori Anne Madison from Virginia.


This week she took the long and lonely journey to the pinnacle of national competition when she became the youngest person to ever qualify for the highly regarded National Spelling Bee.


Imagine that, a competition for all elementary and secondary students in the USA, meaning kids from 8 to 18, and she is one of the 277 brightest kids in America.

I have a thing for academic pursuit ever since I started correcting my teachers in grade school so seeing one achieve such a lofty honor as qualifying for the National Spelling Bee boggles the mind when you consider at her age I was probably still playing cowboys and Indians.

If you get a chance check out her interviews as her feat was quickly picked up by the national and world press as if they could not believe America had any smart 6 year olds.  Her maturity and charm belie her years.

Did I fail to mentioned that this young genius is home schooled?

Here is what the world news had to say about Lori .


Six-year-old girl in National Spelling Bee

(Reuters) - A 6-year-old girl will become the youngest contestant ever in the Scripps National Spelling Bee after winning a regional competition in Virginia.

Lori Anne Madison, of Woodbridge, Virginia, won the Prince William County spelling contest last week, beating out 21 top elementary and middle school competitors. Her winning word: "vaquero," a word of Spanish origin meaning cowboy.

"My parents quiz me. I read lists and I have a really good memory," Madison, who is home-schooled, told Fox's WTTG-TV.

Madison was believed to be the youngest competitor ever, the Cincinnati-based National Spelling Bee said on Tuesday. Based on incomplete records, the previous youngest contestant was 8, it said.

The spelling contest has been held since 1925. This year's event will be held May 29 to June 1 in Washington with 277 spellers from the United States, U.S. territories and other countries.

Madison will be sponsored by the News & Messenger newspaper of Manassas, Virginia.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta)

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Monday, March 12, 2012

March Madness Begins as Top 25 fall like Dominos

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It was the Mad Hatters Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland where all is not what it seems this last week of the college basketball season before the beginning of March Madness this Thursday.

As the top 25 college teams finished their regular season and headed into the conference tournaments, the last warm up before March madness, there were high hopes for a successful post season launch.


Of course the field was filled with the usual characters that have dominated college basketball for the past 500 years as you can see from the standings, with most top ten teams old hands in March Madness.  Here was the top 25:


Top 25

2.Syracuse
3.Kansas
4.North Carolina
5.Missouri
6.Duke
7.Ohio St.
8.Michigan St.
9.Marquette
10.Michigan
11.Murray St.
12.Baylor
13.Georgetown
14.Wisconsin
15.Indiana
16.Wichita St.
17.Florida St.
18.San Diego St.
19.Creighton
20.UNLV
21.Temple
22.Florida
23.Notre Dame
24.Gonzaga
25.Iowa St.


Before the long week was over and the NCAA field was set on Sunday night absolute carnage raged as 21 of the top 25 teams lost.  That may very well be a new record in NCAA history with 84% of the top 25 teams losing the last week of the season.


The biggest upset of all went to Vanderbilt from Nashville as they upset #1 Kentucky in the SEC finals.  But 9 of the top 10 lost, only Missouri survived.  The four who did not lose in the top 25, in red, still lost 19 games between them during the season.

In terms of which are the smartest teams, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, at the University of Central Florida, calculated the six-year graduation results for athletes who entered school during the 2003 and 2004 school years. The analysis does not count players who left college early to play professional basketball.


Only the following teams have graduated 100 percent of their basketball team members, Belmont, Brigham Young, Notre Dame and Villanova.  Vanderbilt awarded degrees to 93 percent of its players.  This was as of last year so maybe we will get to see how smart the teams are this year.

Ironically, Vanderbilt, the upset winner over Kentucky, is known more for the mind than the muscle as they won just their first SEC conference tourney title in 61 years.  Yes, Truman was president the last time they won.


The first round opponent for Vandy is the other egg head team of the tourney, Harvard, who has not played in the tournament since 1946, a 66 year absence.  It was in keeping with the other first-time achievements this season for the Crimson, who cracked the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time, and clinched their first outright Ivy League title since 1946.

This could be the most balanced and/or upset prone field in years as Kentucky, who appeared to be a notch above the rest all season, seemed to run out of gas in the SEC tourney.


Stay tuned to more from Wonderland.
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Friday, March 09, 2012

Countdown to St. Patrick's Day

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The magnificent Cliffs of Moher

Being my maternal grandfather was 100% Irish it is required that I post a countdown to St. Patrick's Day.  Attention: 8 more days until the number of Irish in America reaches over 300 million.

Cheers and check out the song by Irish artist Jim McCann.

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Politics in America - the Clash of the Titans - Axelrod & Plouffe versus Palin & Limbaugh

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The Shadow Campaign moves to the Forefront as the Chicago Gang goes for the Conservative Kill

Politics in America is about to hit a new high or low depending on your point of view.  This past week brought to the forefront the underlying organizations who will most likely decide the future of America.

The four Shadow combatants now squaring off might as well be the ticket for the Democrat and Republican party because they have the potential to make the real candidates nothing more than wallpaper.


As a matter of fact, none of the four has any particular loyalty to a political party although they have taken the spoils of office as income sources in the case of the Democrats.

What is clear is there are no more powerful opinion makers, policy makers and spokespeople for the liberal and conservative causes that fight for control of the American political system every couple of years.

Make no mistake, nothing is done by the president without first checking with his surrogates David Axelrod and David Plouffe, and most times what the president does is what they told him to do.


Between the two they control access to the president and activities of the president.  They decide who gets what in terms of government aid and loans and if they don't sign off on policy it probably won't happen.

On the conservative side you have media titan Rush Limbaugh and media star Sarah Palin, the only one of the four to have run for major office or to have served in office as governor.


As non-candidates they hold sway over massive resources and can influence the entire campaigns from Super PACs and candidates to public opinion and political activism.

It is very rare that those operating in the shadows of a campaign come to the forefront but this time it happened and the result will be one of the most interesting, entertaining and brutal campaign perhaps in our history.

These four Titans can influence billions of dollars in campaign spending and they hold the keys to success of either President Obama or Mitt Romney, the most likely Republican candidate.


This week is a prime example of the Puppet Masters at their best as the liberal Titans made an early move to neutralize the conservatives.  It was broad based, well coordinated and did result in a few darts hitting their targets but it was far from a fatal blow.  Here is what took place.

The destruction of the twin pillars of the right, Rush Limbaugh & Sarah Palin

Make no mistake, the most important thing to the Chicago gang running the Obama campaign is the total destruction of the spokespeople of the conservative movement, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin.


This past week Palin was scheduled for termination from the political scene with the release of the HBO movie about her based on the research of the Game Change book by MSNBC contributors John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

The movie was directed by Jay Roach of Austin Powers and The Little Fockers fame which makes him more than qualified to do a film on the 2008 political race.  His political leaning is obvious as this was his second venture to destroy the career of a conservative Republican.

He tried it first with Recount, a film attempting to show that George Bush stole the 2000 presidential election in Florida.  In spite multiple appearances by the writers defending the "fair and balanced" portrayal of Sarah Palin, early reviews, even by liberal leaning critics, find that hard to believe as the film was clearly another effort to trash Palin's career.


Yet to be determined is the role anyone from the Obama campaign played in making sure Palin was out of the political scene during this campaign with the release of the film, curiously just before Republicans will select the opponent to the president.

Since HBO is owned by liberal Time Warner and MSNBC is owned by GE, yes the same company that made $9 billion in one quarter and paid no federal taxes, it seems as if the Hollywood liberals have found a cause to unite them, the final destruction of Sarah Palin.

Ironically, the Obama campaign came out with a Hollywood puff piece. a  17 minute major motion picture on how Obama saved America since being elected, and released it at the same time the Sarah Palin film was being released.


Do you find it a little ironic that the same week Obama officially launches his presidential campaign, his people orchestrate a nationwide assault on Rush Limbaugh to destroy his credibility, the Obama campaign releases a major minor motion picture on the hero Obama who has solved all our problems, and his cohorts at MSNBC, HBO and Time Warner release a major motion picture doing a trash job on Palin?

The problem with Chicago politicians all the way back to the days of Al Capone is that they just don't know when to quit when it comes to defeating their opponents.  Look how the Chicago gang  botched up the Valentine's Day massacre by killing everyone, leaving no one to tell their story to the press.  What good is a great hit if no one knows it was your hit?

Chicago provided the winning margin for John Kennedy's election back in the Richard Daly days getting 100,000 votes for the soon to be president out of Chicago graveyards.


When Barak Obama first ran for US Senate he was behind in the Democrat primary and his opponent mysteriously withdrew from the race though he was leading in the polls and went to work for Goldman Sachs.

Again in the general election his Republican opponent, also leading at the time, also withdrew from the campaign and went to work for Goldman Sachs.  I guess it was no coincidence that Obama's first chief of staff and now mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, also worked for Goldman Sachs.


So it is not surprising that this week saw a major flurry of activity against Limbaugh and Palin that left Obama smiling and emboldened and must have the Axelrod gang giggling like, well Chicago politicians.  After all, Limbaugh with his millions of conservative followers was also a force standing in the way of Obama getting reelected.

At the same time Palin, a force with the Tea Party, conservatives and many women's groups, was the only Republican politician who really got under Obama's skin in 2008 and since and brought out his true colors.

Never had a presidential candidate like Obama spent his time attacking the vice presidential candidate, Palin, like he did.  She singlehandedly stood between him and an anti-Bush landslide which he felt was his birthright having attended Harvard, and she denied him the glory of an electoral landslide to push his agenda of change.

Woe are those who cross a Chicago political boss and isn't his campaign located in the Windy City and not the east coast?  Must be because Oprah lives there.

So how did their political assassination and character destruction campaigns against Limbaugh and Palin work out?


Well, after all the liberal media filled the airways with how Limbaugh had lost his credibility, had lost a staggering 50 advertising sponsors since he shot his mouth off about a college woman before apologizing twice, and it looked like he would have his show cancelled.

Once again the Obama boys just might have exaggerated a little and overplayed their hand a lot.  Maybe Limbaugh lost 50 advertisers, but they forgot to mention on all those fair and balanced news shows that he is broadcast on over 600 stations and has over 1,800 advertisers with a whole lot waiting in line because his show is sold out.


Who is going to fire Rush when he owns his own show?  He has a $400 million broadcasting contract that is only half complete and he made over $64 million last year alone.  Most important, he has over 20 million loyal fans who could care less what he might have said bad about some liberal.  They have watched too many liberals try to destroy Rush and Sarah.


Then there is Sarah Palin.

After four years of the meanest attacks, most vicious lies and dirty underhanded tricks to discredit her they have failed to silence the Alaskan Grizzly.  What the liberal media did to her will haunt them forever in the history books when the truth can be told.

They are fools to think anyone in the public will buy into the lie that Game Change was anything but a Palin trash job by Obama surrogates who were trying to keep the president's hands from getting too much dirt on them.

Palin still has her broadcasting job where she can still tell the truth about Obama.  She still lives in Alaska where the Chicago boys won't go though they have often sent their own surrogates to dig up dirt on Palin.  She still has her organization with millions of gun toting fans and grizzly mothers along with her PACs and other fund raising groups.

Just like Rush, she is laughing all the way to the bank as every Palin book outsells the books by Obama and his legions of book writing liberals calling for the takeover of America and the redistribution of America's wealth.


The Shadow Campaign Titan Team Players

This secret Shadow Campaign, in which the two teams are now fully exposed, pits Axelrod, a New York kid who grew up in the lower east side of Manhattan before moving to Chicago for college, and Plouffe, a Delaware native with a long history in liberal political campaigns, as the liberal Titans.

Representing the conservative cause are Limbaugh, who grew up in Missouri, attended college in Missouri and went on to fulfill his lifelong dream to be a radio personality and Sarah Palin, perhaps the most dissected political personality in existence who is still alive. Sarah is a hard nosed, basketball playing, gun toting, hunter, fisherman, bush pilot and politician from Alaska.

This is going to be a most interesting and entertaining campaign.
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Remember the Japanese Earthquake - Mother Earth's Wake Up Call

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A moment in time when the land and the seas cried out

It was one year ago Sunday, March 11, that a massive earthquake hit just off the shore of Japan triggering the worst natural disaster in modern history.  The ensuing tsunami and collateral damage to nuclear reactors and Japanese infrastructure will not be known for years.


What happened in the waters off the coast of Japan changed the course of history as it demonstrated the fallacies of mankind in concentrating energy production and manufacturing in one place, allowing one country to dominate the world auto parts manufacturing market, and demonstrated how a natural event could result in a worldwide economic crisis and a disruption in all international commerce.


Well Japan survived but the people of Japan will be victims for generations to come so on this first anniversary of the Japanese disaster we would all do well to remember the victims in our prayers and urge our leaders to learn of our potential vulnerabilities from a natural disaster and prepare for it.


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Thursday, March 08, 2012

Obamaville March 8 - A Full Moon and Sun Spot Attack

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Maybe God doesn't like our national debate

I'm one of those people who is always looking for signs to point the way to one's destiny.  It may not be a big sign either, like pulling the magical sword Excalibur from a stone the way young Arthur did to become the Once and Future King Arthur.


At an early age I also learned to balance my passions of hope with skepticism to protect myself from too much disappointment. Mark Twain was my foundation with his wit and wisdom like "everyone's entitled to their own silly opinions."

So I now describe myself as a "cautious optimist" when it comes to human evolution, and an outright pessimist when it comes to human motivation.  It just seems we have pretty much lost our foundation for values and principles.


What used to be good is now judged to be obsolete.  What used to be immoral is now the new status quo.  Movies that used to be R rated for restricted and were banished to the theaters are now on cable television daily.

In today's world pornography, which used to be banned from the public, is now downloaded through the Internet into your very home with no moral compass or consequence.

When I grew up there were only two publicly available places you could find pictures of naked women, either National Geographic Magazine or the old man's Playboy if you could find where he hid it.  In fact National Geographic was about 100 years ahead of the education system in teaching sex education to kids.


All the old crooked siding salesmen, window salesmen, used car salesmen, vacuum salesmen and encyclopedia salesmen have now evolved into direct marketing by phone, Internet spam, and Internet fraud and thanks to modern technology the crooks can operate about 1000 times faster.

Anyway, you get the message.  There just might be some truth to the speculation that the loss of morality could lead to the End Times when the Creator decides to terminate the human experiment, maybe again (think Noah's Ark), and hits the erase button on Plant Earth.


Well according to the Bible what really makes the Creator upset is when people refuse to acknowledge the work of Jesus or make sacrilegious statements about Jesus.  Those people can get erased in a big hurry.

Lately in the dark world of politics a lot has been made of some pretty incendiary moral issues like abortion, contraception, gay marriages, sexual promiscuity, and the like and a lot of heated statements have been made by both sides of the issues.

After some of the things I've heard, I can't imagine the Creator can't be more than a little upset that the creation on Earth might be getting out of hand again.  But being the Supreme Being, it is hard for the Omnipotent One to annihilate all life forms just to teach a few lost souls a lesson.


No, there has to be something a little less dramatic than Noah's flood to teach a lesson to all those humans who strayed from the path.  In the infinite wisdom of the Creator he also surmised that it really wasn't most people indulging in the moral corruption of mankind but a handful of soulless radicals strategically placed.

Like in politics.  Like in sports.  Like in religion.  Like in hospitals.  Like in the banks and Wall Street.  Like in our face every day and night on the television.

So what was needed was a small sign to make a big impression on those few indulged in the moral destruction of mankind.  Remember, most people are followers, not leaders.  The enemies of morality are those deciding how mankind can be manipulated, and then they go out and do it.  They view their job as leading the masses through deception or any  means necessary into the dark.

So I watch the debates, the vitriol language, the personal and bitter attacks, and the endless opinions and analysis from the politicians and news media, and I say this might be a good time for a little Divine intervention to shut up the blabbering fools and silence the wolves.

If I were the Creator seeking a small sign to get the right people's attention, something so powerful you can't miss it but so targeted only the worst of the moral thieves would be hurt, I think I've got the answer.


SOLAR FLARES ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN.

With the Sun an average of 93 million miles from Earth, it is visible through satellites but can't fry the earth if a little exhibition of power takes place.  So I set off some rather big solar explosions and aim them at the Earth.

When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on Earth. They can also amplify the Earth's display of northern and southern lights, also known as auroras.

Of course here in America, the land of plenty and then some, these huge clouds of charged particles — called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs - erupting from the solar flares, can have a much more interesting impact than most places.

Here we are psychologically addicted to multiple forms of electro magnetic toys like cells phones, GPS tracking systems, notebooks, video phones, wireless signals, credit cards, ATM cards and all the other things we have to distract us, please us, entertain us, manage our money and tell us where to go.


My little miracle, firing off a few big solar flares, can disrupt those technology toys that weren't even in existence 100 years ago.  When some of the people of earth suddenly can't use their cell phone, or text, or find their way to the nearest pizza joint, or realize their car won't start or tell them where to go, that will get attention.

So 36 hours ago a couple of x class solar eruptions exploded on the Sun.  Yesterday the government finally decided to warn us of the potential electro magnetic impact of the solar flares on earth, and all of the above were mentioned as possibilities.

We will know today.  But we also know that a series of bigger and bigger solar flares or storms are taking place every month and will continue to build until the end of 2013.  At some point the electrical devices will fail and the electrical grid could even collapse.

You don't think this act of God could have anything to do with the assault on God, religious freedom and moral proclivity taking place do you?


Maybe the Hopi, the Mayan and the Bible writers had a little more inspired insight than we may want to think!
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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

A Letter to Ann Romney, wife of Mitt Romney


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Over three years ago Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the greatest nation on earth at a difficult time in our history.

He promised hope.
He promised healing.
He promised change.

And the people of America gave him a chance to deliver.

But instead of hope he gave us fear.
Instead of healing he gave us class warfare.
Instead of change he gave us paralysis.

His were words of promise, such lofty and ideal words for a new and better future.  Now they have been given the test of time, and those inspirational words have been exposed as nothing more than the sham of political expediency so typical of our broken political system.

Barack Obama's promises were empty.

His strategy was divisive.
His actions failed to deliver.
In short, he failed America.

The people are the heart and soul of America and they deserve far better than being treated as pawns in an international chess game.  You see, the people are not pawns in a game of political partisanship and social engineering.

For President Obama the record is clear, and the record is dismal.  The conclusion is obvious.  His policies of division, exploitation and paralysis must end.

It is time he recognize the obvious.  His game has reached checkmate - his game is over.

The people will no longer accept being pawns in his game.  It is time he put his chess board away and go back home to Chicago or Hollywood.



So today the people of American have a clear choice.

When the dust settles on the Republican primary your husband Mitt Romney will be the last one standing.

Mitt is not a rock star or a celebrity, he is a gladiator prepared to roll up his sleeves and lead us through the difficult decisions we must make in order to restore America.

Once upon a time America was the dream of all people on earth.  Recapture the dream and you will stimulate the dreamers, those rugged patriots, entrepreneurs, pilgrims and freedom fighters, the melting pot called America.




In truth the vast majority of Americans reflect the richly diverse cultural background and diversity of those many generations who came to America as pioneers in the New World.  It is our duty to guarantee our beloved nation and people that the dream that made us strong will be there for future generations to keep us strong.

Your Mitt can restore the American dream and guide America through the dangerous waters and dark clouds of our present into our future.

Perhaps he doesn't have a warm and fuzzy image but what he does have is a determination of steel.  His style of leadership may not make him everyone's best friend but it most certainly will give us a tough chief executive and decisive commander in chief.

At this precarious point in the world and national affairs do we need a nice guy or a person of steel nerves and broad based experience?



Romney has been there.  He has proven what leadership means and how it can foster success.

After graduating from BYU and Harvard law and business graduate schools with high honors no one can question his education or the methods of leadership and success, or theorize about his philosophy of executive decision making.  He has demonstrated it over and over again.

Mitt proved that success does not come from New Age visualization but from the Old Age style of education and experience, of blood, sweat and tears, by fighting one battle after another, and climbing one step at a time.

Polarization, partisanship and cronyism have no place in politics or in oval offices.  That is what has tarnished the American dream and disappointed the American people.

Mitt was not a career politician, a special interest lobbyist, or a charter member of the smoke filled rooms in Washington and Chicago where political deals are hatched and political payoffs are expected.

All his life he demonstrated a love for the challenge of leadership and welcomed the responsibility for improving the lives of those around him.  It must have been a difficult task but one he was good at and his experience in the real world must have taught him a lot more than can be learned in the Halls of Congress or walls of an academic institution.



For example, he developed a strong faith in God, a strong family foundation and a strong desire to help and help not just a handful of friends, financial contributors or special interests but all people.

In the classic Midwest definition of "serving the public", that means transforming success into helping others and dedicating a few years of one's life to public service to help and serve all the people, not just a privileged few.

All must benefit from the fruits of their labor and realize the rewards of their success.

My question to the silent majority of Americans who don't complain, don't demand and don't expect favoritism is this.

Do you want lofty words or gritty determination?
Do you want empty promises or bold actions?
Do you want theoretical probability or proven experience?



We gave a young president full of bold promises a chance to prove he was true to his word. He could not deliver what he promised.  The lack of experience he brought with him as president proved more than promises are needed to understand our problems, to develop meaningful plans to attack those problems, and to direct the forces and resources of government in executing the plan and solving those problems.

Mitt Romney has the education, experience and achievements needed to guide our nation out of these difficult times.  He knows the price of leadership and the responsibilities of how to lead.  And he knows effective leadership cannot be achieved through ill-conceived plans by inexperienced people or a world view of America that is not shared by your fellow country men and women.

Mitt must ignore the nitpicking media or the political pundits and just be Mitt Romney, not some figment of a consultants imagination.  His strength is his resolve and his legacy is his years of unselfish performance.

We know he can figure out a way to fix the economy, immigration, education and energy issues because that is what a successful business executive can do while most politicians cannot be trusted to serve the public over special interests or their own interests.



Romney is not a professional politician.

He is a man that can be trusted.  He proved that to the people of Massachusetts, the Olympic movement, and many others what happens when you are trusted.  You succeed at solving the problems.

In the aftermath of the Super Tuesday primaries there is a stark lesson to be learned.  It seems that those who know your husband best, the people he and you as first lady served in Massachusetts when Mitt was governor and chief executive, gave him the greatest victory margin of the campaign with over 72% voting for Romney.

What do they know that we don't?
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