Original "Yes We Can" Speech by Ronald Reagan

The original "Yes, We Can!" speech given by Ronald Reagan.



Barack Obama is a mere shadow.

Four minutes that will make you realize the difference that 28 years makes in serving up presidential candidates.

by Mondoreb
Source: Ronald Reagan: The Original "Yes We Can" Speech
image: student britannica


DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Back to DBKP at Blogger Front Page

Bush Will Resist Defeatist Democrats

In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq.

Five years later, President Bush strongly signaled Wednesday that he won't order troop withdrawals beyond what's already been planned.

The president refuses to "jeopardize the hard-fought gains" of the past year.

As anti-war activists demonstrated around downtown Washington, the president spoke at the Pentagon to mark the anniversary of a war that has cost nearly 4,000 U.S. lives and roughly $500 billion. The president's address was part of a series of events the White House planned around the anniversary and next month's report from the top U.S. figures in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. That report will be the basis for Bush's first troop-level decision in seven months.

"The battle in Iraq has been longer and harder and more costly than we anticipated," Bush said.

What did Bush have to say to those who "still call for retreat"?

Read rest of "Bush Speech: Will Resist Democrats Who Call for Retreat".

by Mondoreb
image: RidesAPaleHorse
Source: Bush Speech: Will Resist Democrats Who Call for Retreat
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.

Obama Speech: The Wright Stuff?

We shall see if Obama's speech on March 18 had the desired effect. The results won't be clear for days, at best, but from what I have seen and heard so far, much of the speech itself, plus TV commentary, it was too little, too late.

Gloria Borger expressed the opinion yesterday that for the speech to be effective, Obama had to talk directly to the voters at a real world level and, for a change, not address worshipful devotees, from the stratosphere There was some earthiness in Obama's address, but it was pretty much true to form, poetic and rhapsodic and rhetorical. Personally, I could muster some sympathy, but it was not convincing.

What would be convincing ?

A black political expert featured on Fox TV may provide the best answer. Sorry I can't report his name, but he is very astute and realistic, a "pol" who knows his stuff. He also is a Democrat sympathetic to Obama --and he wasn't convinced, either.

What it would take is for Obama to meet with Rev Wright, behind closed doors , and when the get together was over for Wright to emerge with the message that he , the pastor, regretted his controversial views, had experienced a change of heart, and now seeks to not only undo damages he has caused , but has determined to turn a new leaf and henceforth preach a message that, in effect, reflects the outlook of MLK. And this would need to be done, added a women news anchor, in such a way that it could only be seen as sincere and not cynical opportunism.

What are the chances of this ? For the immediate future, slim to none. Apparently the pastor has been located in Africa, and at the least is nowhere to be found. But even if he could be contacted in the next day or two, he has now been so publicly vilified that in all probability he is in no mood for anything but defensiveness.

Down the road may be another matter. And with the Pennsylvania primary still 5 weeks away, Obama has some time, maybe enough time, to "stop the bleeding." But the more time that elapses, the worse his predicament becomes. His poll numbers have begun to fall and Hillary's lead in Pennsylvania,as of this AM, has increased from 6% to 12%.
Not that we can trust Gallup with our life, and other polls have been less than trustworthy this year, but here is one indication that major damages loom ahead for Obama. Rasmusson is the first tracking poll to show nationwide effects from the "pastorgate" mess, Obama down 5 points in 3 days.

The speech may have the effect to applying a tourniquet to a serious wound, maybe those numbers will stabilize, but clearly the speech was not enough. The best that can be said is that it gave some measure of reassurance to Obama's most ardent supporters who, because of it, still have a "reason for faith." The problem concerns his "soft support, " people who like him and like the idea of voting for him, but who are realists, not "true believers." How large their numbers are in Obama's "camp" I cannot say, but surely a substantial part of the ensemble, and maybe a majority. These are the people who could "peel away" in the days and weeks ahead.

What are the goals of Obama's strategists?

Read the rest of "Obama Speech: The Wright Stuff".

By: Billy Rojas

[Billy Rojas is a former college teacher of the Social Sciences, History, and Comparative Religion , at Phoenix college, Alice Lloyd College, Lower Columbia College, and the City Colleges of Chicago. He was formerly assigned to the US Navy as an instructor with the USS Enterprise. His previous article, "Obama and Culture Shock" appeared at DBKP on March 2 2008.]
image: DBKP file; democratic underground
Source: Obama Speech: The Wright Stuff?
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.

DBKP Today in Weird History: February 25, 2008

WAR, TERRORISM, DISASTER, LEVIATHAN, BUSINESS, PATENTS, COMMIES, ACTIVIST COURT, SPORTS, RUN, SPEECH, EXECUTED, GUILLOTINED, LYNCHED, EXCOMMUNICATION, MONKEYS, E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS, RECORDS, GREENBACKS, CONDEMNED, DALI LAMA, TAXES, INFLATION, NAZIS, JEWS, MOONIES, SERIAL KILLERS, BICYCLES, AH ONE AND AH TWO, FAST, TV BREAKDOWNS, HOOKERS, WHEN HE'S DOWN, BORN, BIRTHDAYS, DEATH

LEVIATHAN

1913 the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

WAR!

1779 American forces led by George Rogers Clark routed the British from Fort Sackville in the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes in present-day Indiana.

1991 During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

2003 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation, but President Bush was dismissive, predicting Saddam Hussein would try to "fool the world one more time."

TERRORISM

1995 Bomb attack on train in Assam India (27 soldiers killed).

1995 Moslem fundamentalists shoot 20 Shiite mosque goers dead.

2007 A female suicide bomber triggered a ball bearing-packed charge, killing at least 41 people at a mostly Shiite college in Baghdad.

DISASTERS

1977 Oil tanker explosion west of Honolulu spills 31 million gallons.

1984 Oil fire in Cubatao Brazil kills 500.

1994 Peruvian Yak-40 crashes into mountain near Tingo Maria, kills 31.

MONKEYS

1751 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1¢).

RECORDS

1838 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours.

CONDEMNED

1885 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds.

PATENTS

1836 inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.

TV BREAKDOWNS

1990 On a BBC taped interview, rock star Stevie Nicks breaks down, saying that she will never have children & no man can stand her for long.

DALI LAMA

1910 Dali Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troop to British-Indies.

WHEN HE'S DOWN

1995 British heavyweight Nigel Benn hits Gerard McClellan in hospital.

HOOKERS

1998 Switzerland's 1st legal brothel opens in Zurich.

INFLATION

1923 Bread in Berlin rises to 2,000 mark.

AH ONE AND AH TWO

1982 Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.

GUILLOTINED

1922 Henri-Désiré Landru French sex murderer, guillotined at 52.

TAXES

1919 Oregon is 1st state to tax gasoline (1¢ per gallon).

GREENBACKS

1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln.

EXCOMMUNICATION

1570 Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth, absolves her subjects from allegiance.

NAZIS

1932 Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship.

CHOKED

1983 Tennessee Williams writer (Streetcar Named Desire), reportedly chokes to death on a bottle cap at 71.

SERIAL KILLERS

1973 Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders.

E PLURIBUS PLURIBUS

1803 1,800 sovereign German states unite into 60 states.

LYNCHED

1994 Baruch Goldstein physician/murderer (53 in mosque), lynched at 42.

BICYCLES

1974 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975.

FAST

1982 Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph).

BUSINESS

1901 U.S. Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.

JEWS

1941 February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam.

MOONIES

1968 430 Unification Church couples wed in Korea.

COMMIES

1948 Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.

ACTIVIST COURT

1957 The Supreme Court, in Butler v. Michigan, overturned a Michigan statute making it a misdemeanor to sell books containing obscene language that would tend to corrupt "the morals of youth."

SPEECH

2007 In Detroit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity during what was billed as his final major speech, saying the world was at war because Christians and Muslims were divided.

EXECUTED

1601 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, executed for treason against Elizabeth.

SPORTS

1964 Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), a 7-1 underdog, became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Fla.

1989 Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career.

RUN!

In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.

BORN

1841 Pierre Auguste Renoir Limoges France, Impressionist painter/sculptor.

1901 [Herbert] Zeppo Marx New York NY, comedian/actor (Marx Brothers).

1906 Domingo Ortega Spanish bullfighter.

BIRTHDAYS

Country singer Ralph Stanley is 81. TV writer-producer Larry Gelbart is 80. Actor Tom Courtenay is 71. CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 71. Actress Diane Baker is 70. Actress Karen Grassle is 64. Movie director Neil Jordan is 58. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 51. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 49. Actress Veronica Webb is 43. Actor Alexis Denisof is 42. Actress Tea Leoni is 42. Comedian Carrot Top is 41. Actress Lesley Boone is 40. Actor Sean Astin is 37. Singer Daniel Powter is 37. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Justin Jeffre is 35. Rock musician Richard Liles is 35. Actor Anson Mount is 35. Actress Rashida Jones is 32. Actor Justin Berfield is 22. Actors Oliver and James Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 22.

DEATH

1994 Jersey Joe Walcott boxer, dies at 80.

February 25, the 56th day of 2008. There are 310 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: history
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Abizaid: Middle East Conflict Will Take Another 25-50 Years

Former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Army General John Abizaid, says the U.S. conflict in the Middle East could take up to 25-50 years to resolve and that America's been lucky not to have had another 9/11 incident.

The AP quotes Abizaid, speaking to students at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh:

"It's going to be hard, it's going to be long, it's going to be arduous, dangerous, bloody and expensive," Abizaid said Wednesday. "But, on the other hand, I do believe it's workable, provided that we have conversations like this and understand the dynamics that are at play out there.

"And it's not so one-dimensional as to be all-Iraq all the time," he said.

Abizaid also spoke about U.S. interests--and the number one U.S. interest in the Persian Gulf area is oil.

"I'm not saying this is a war for oil, but I am saying that oil fuels an awful lot of geopolitical moves that political powers may have there," Abizaid said. "And it is absolutely essential that we in the United States of America figure out how, in the long run, to lessen our dependency on foreign energy."

It's not hard to see that this story will be another brick in the wall by the owners of Trendy Left shops selling "No Blood for Oil" T-shirts. John Abisaid is a general; the general said "oil". The lightbulb will go off and another T-shirt, bearing the likeness of the general and a slogan such as, "I need a fill-up--Kill another kid", will be born.

The fact remains that unless Americans wants to park their cars or spend $15 for a gallon of gasoline, oil is an important component of the U.S. economy and to its way of life. And the Middle East does have plenty of oil. It may be their only exportable commodity--outside of hate and extremists bent on avenging the ills of the 12th Century.

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn



Back to Front Page.