IN DEFENSE of Obama’s golfing adventures. I would only add that if golf keeps him from the Oval Office, please go for the record (400 rounds in a single term).

WHY I MISS TEXAS











Bluebonnets in the spring.

'TEA PARTIERS' more wacky mavericks than extremist threat. The Washington Post’s Robert McCartney explains the new liberal Tea Party spin. They’re not “seething, ready-to-explode racists;” they’re just ...

... paunchy small-business owners aged 50 and older [in] three-cornered hats [with] rattlesnake flags ... exercising their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.

Kooky. Wacky. Paunchy. Dressed in 3-cornered hats. Not exactly the kind that sober liberals would take seriously, right?

In addition, they had ...

... far-out views. Abolish public schools ... repeal the progressive income tax ... abolish the Federal Reserve Board ... privatize the U.S. Postal Service ... Social Security is unconstitutional.

Well, yes, I guess those views are “far-out” to someone who inhabits the liberal fringe.

But ...

Explain to me why it is “far out” to not cede control of my child’s education to a bureaucracy hundreds, if not thousands of miles from my home? Why is it “far out” to want to replace our present nightmare of an income tax with something simpler? Why is it “far out” to replace Social Security with a privatized system that will provide a better retirement for even the poorest among us?

Like the people in the television commercial, Mr. McCartney and those of his ilk should push through their tiny ‘calling circle’ bubbles and join the rest of America.

THE AIRLINES' GOLDEN AGE wasn't so golden. “Americans today want flying to mirror the image in their heads of the glory days of air travel.... [Y]ou probably envision smartly dressed businessmen reclining in big, comfy seats and enjoying elaborate meals. Meanwhile, attractive young stewardesses fawn[ed] over their customers -- the legendary ‘coffee, tea or me’ days. Those days weren't, however, as glamorous as you might imagine.”

No, they weren’t. And back then, if you weren’t flying on business, you weren’t flying.

PAYBACK? The Obama administration has been stealing from America for 15 months. I guess the robber felt it was time to get his back.

Must have been one of those deranged Tea Partiers.

A CHAT WITH FRED. Leaving the gas station Sunday after my early morning coffee fix, I was approached by a young gentleman whom I’ll call Fred, asking me if I owned the truck with the Tea Party bumper sticker.

When I said yes, he immediately struck up an extended conversation. A political independent, Fred has until recently mostly uninvolved in politics beyond voting regularly, but is now concerned by the direction the Obama administration is taking. Fred wanted to know more about the Tea Party philosophy and how to contact a local Tea Party group.

Here’s the nutshell version of my conversation with Fred:

The Tea Part(ies) are true grassroots; there is neither a central organization nor a common, coordinated political “platform,” but the core principles could probably be summed up as a belief in individual liberty, limited government, and low taxes. Prominent - but subsidiary - concerns include employment, the repeal of ObamaCare, pork and special-interest lobbying, Second Amendment concerns, energy (cap-and-trade), illegal immigration, deficit spending, intrusive regulation, and a strong military.

The closest I’ve seen to a Tea Party “platform” is the Contract from America, calling on those seeking public office to advocate on behalf of individual liberty, limited government, and economic freedom. It has ten “planks”:

1. Protect the Constitution
2. Reject Cap & Trade
3. Demand a Balanced Budget
4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform
5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility & Constitutionally Limited Government
6. End Runaway Government Spending
7. Defund, Repeal, & Replace Government-run Health Care
8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy
9. Stop the Pork
10. Stop the Tax Hikes

For all you “Freds,” here are some ways to find a Tea Party near you.

FreedomWorks predates the Tea Party movement, but does act as a sponsor for many tea party related activities. Look for the “states” tab at the top.

Tea Party Patriots is a coordination organization. From its web site, you can link to state and then to local tea party groups affiliated with the Tea Party Patriots. The National Capital Tea Party Patriots is an umbrella organization for the Washington D.C. metro area, and locally (for me) are the Jefferson Conservatives (Manassas) and Prince William County Tea Party (Woodbridge).

Find a group near you - or form your own - and make your voice heard.

SHOULD THE GOP PUSH FOR TOUGH REGULATION OF WALL STREET? No. Not if it “amounts to granting ‘too big to fail’ status to financial firms like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase ... and it tells those firms' creditors and shareholders that Uncle Sam will bail them out if they make what turn out to be imprudent loans.”

The Republicans must make it well-known that dinosaurs will be allowed to become extinct.

A GLIMPSE into the mind of Obama:

Barack Obama considers this a revolution against the pillars of American liberty, and nothing short of absolute, ignominious defeat in all branches of the federal government is going to dissuade his revolutionary zeal.

With this sort of leadership, either liberalism must now suffer a decisive and complete defeat, wherein even its proponents begin to hide their heads in shame and remorse forevermore, or socialism will continue its march. There is no in-between, no compromise, and no turning back.

The will of the majority means nothing to this president.

Fence-sitting Americans must forcefully rid themselves of the notion that this president believes in majority-rule democracy. By his Chicago-way, thug-tactics victory in the health care battle, he has clearly shown his own stripes, those of a determined revolutionary without regard for the will of the people.

Read it all.