'Stop' Tour Kicks Off

The mother of a U.S. Marine who has served in Iraq, and a black singer will lead a national bus tour rallying Americans to reject the Obama/Biden ticket and instead support the McCain/Palin campaign. The "Stop Obama Tour: will launch this Wednesday, October 15th rallying Americans at 35 cities in swing states across the nation. The tour will take place from October 15th – 29th.
Military Mom Deborah Johns' son is a United States Marine who has served several tours of duty in the War on Terror, including three tours of duty in Iraq. Lloyd Marcus, has already attracted attention in the 2008 presidential campaign with his song "Sarah Smile" -- a tribute to Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. (You can see the video to "Sarah Smile" - HERE).

Also leading the "Stop Obama Tour" will be radio talk show host and television news & politics analyst, Mark Williams, who will be blogging and podcasting on the events taking place throughout the tour.

“The Stop Obama Tour” is a project of the “Our Country Deserves Better” committee an independent federal political action committee that has already raised several hundred thousand dollars from everyday Americans in the effort to support the McCain/Palin campaign.Local elected officials and community leaders will also speak at the rallies which will take place in: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Nine rallies alone will take place in Michigan, as the Our Country Deserves Better Committee has stepped in to fill the void created by the decision of the McCain campaign to pull its own resources out of Michigan, and focus their staffing and ad spending in other states. The national tour will be supported by an extensive television advertising campaign with commercials having already begun across Nevada, then to begin in Colorado, and a heavy media buy to begin later this week in Michigan. Again, the committee’s determination to step in and wage an aggressive campaign to defeat Obama in the Great Lake State comes in the wake of the McCain campaign’s drawdown of resources from the state.

Bravo, Bravo, Italia!

Before this Columbus Day passes let's reflect on what a glorious, glorious day it was.
Amidst unseasonably warm weather and under a bright sun President George W. Bush greeted Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlosconi at the White House today.
The occasion was replete with pomp and grandeur.
We watched the whole event on C-SPAN and so enjoyed seeing the White House festooned with American and Italian flags. President Bush pulled out all the stops to greet Prime Minister Berlusconi and honor Italy on this important day in world history and it was all entirely appropriate. Italy is one of our nation's best friends and closest allies and Berlusconi is a great leader in his own right.
Watching these two world leaders as they walked along the White House lawn to review the troops we thought of the enduring alliance that has linked our two nations.
Few Presidents have been as respectful and attentive to the needs of Italy and the concerns of Italian-Americans as President George W. Bush. And President Bush is at his best on these occasions, honoring the Presidency and conducting himself with dignity and appropriate formality.
Though President Bush will leave office in less than 100 days, we hope that President Berlusconi remains at the helm of Bella Italia for a long, long time. We shall need him there.
Three cheers for America! Bravo, Italia!

"Palin's a C_ _ T!"

Friends of ours who live in center city say that these fourescent tee-shirts declaring "PALIN IS A C _ _ T!" are frequently sighted on Philly sidewalks.
This photo shows four of the Palin haters outside the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue where Palin made a recent fund-raising apperance. These four were part of a group of hundreds of leftist thugs who showed up to jeer and disrupt the event. Like their counterparts in Manhattan, they are loud, crude, and grossly intolerant. Their chants could be heard blocks away even in the upper reaches of a residential high rise.
These are the same people who preach to others about tolerance. But these people are also the same ones who want to eliminate all opposition speech. To them, tolerance means one thing: "Agree with us, or shut up!"
By comparison, that woman in Naples with the "We R So Screwed . . . " sign seems tame, indeed. Warning to Naples lady: Be careful. The speech thugs may be on their way.
Photo provided by HillBuzz.com

Reba 'Duets' Soars!

More than a year after its release Reba McEntire's stunning Duets albumn continues to break records and capture awards.

On this outing Reba sings with LeAnn Rimes, Ronnie Dunn, Kelly Clarkson, Trisha Yearwood, Carole King, Faith Hill, Vince Gill, Don Henley and Justin Timberlake, among others.

Two of my favorites are Does The Wind Still Blow in Oklahoma? (with Dunn) and Because of You (with Clarkson). Reba has been touring with Clarkson at sellout concerts all over the country.

It's no accident that this albumn was produced by Tony Brown who is the guiding force behind the career of so many country stars including George Strait.

Now, on October 28 Reba will release the box set of her 50 Greatest Hits.

But back to Duets: No woman in country music (and possibly no male or female singer in any genre) has a more distinctive voice than Reba McEntire.

From the moment you hear the voice, you know it: fierce and powerful, clear and passionate, a voice that could belong to no one else but the woman millions of fans the world over know only as Reba. So what do you do when you're the owner of that iconic voice -- and the embodiment of a genre-bending artistic presence that spans the worlds of music, screen and stage? If you're Reba McEntire, you find creative soul mates in 11 other amazing voices and produce a groundbreaking collection of music simply titled Reba Duets.

Though Reba is country through and through, as she sees it, amazing songs have little to do with genre, and everything to do with emotion and nuance. “I've been a fan of different kinds of music all my life,” she says. “I really don't like to categorize music. To me, there's only two categories: good and bad. And I try to sing the good songs, and listen to good music. When it touches my heart, and I can deliver it with all my heart and soul, then it's a good Reba McEntire song. In the end, I want all the songs to touch my listener's hearts.”

Screwed

You may have noticed: Some people feel very strongly about this election.
This is an actual photo that a friend snapped in Naples, Florida this weekend.
And since we're all in favor of free speech, we encourage everyone to get out and let your voice be heard. Talk, shout, make signs or, as the OH!man himself says: "Get in their faces!"
And it's OK if you use your imagination. Rugged indvidualism made this country great.
But hurry. You'll need to take advantage of your freedom while you can.

Thanks, Mr. Snider!

We thank Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider for inviting Governor Sarah Palin to Philadelphia last night to drop the first puck at the Flyers Game. Snider is a man with the courage of his convictions and his convcitions are well placed.
Snider is shown above with participants from the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation before a recent Flyers game. Launched three years ago, the foundation uses hockey to help educate young people on how to succeed in life. The foundation serves more than 2,000 boys and girls throughout the Delaware Valley.
Ed Snider has done a great deal for the city and the region. He's a class act, even when Flyers fans are not.

Yeah, Let's Fight!

Tomorrow all of the Sunday talk shows and all of the "elite" big city dailies will be leading with stories about the "anger" of John McCain's supporters and the chattering class will declare that outright "hatred" seems to have infected the McCain campaign. Don't be fooled.
Yes -- McCain's Army is Angry. Very angry.
And yes, a lot of the anger is close to (or could turn into) hatred.
But it's not Obama that the McCain troops are angry at.
And it's not Joe Biden or Michelle Obama that are the targets of the anger -- even though Obama, Biden and Michelle are hardly favorites among McCain loyalists.
No, the McCain crowd isn't really angry at any of them.
It's John McCain who has aroused the anger of McCainiacs. It's McCain that they're angry with.
They're angry because McCain isn't honing his messages clearly enough, isn't touching on the right issues, isn't perfecting his attack, isn't pounding away, isn't fighting hard enough.
These people know McCain is a warrior who fights for what he believes in and they want to see him fight, really fight. They want to see the fight in his eyes and hear it in his words and understand it in his actions. They know that time is short and if the battle is to be brought to the fore then it must happen now - because they know they can win.
McCain raised their expectation before the last debate by indicated he would lead the charge. Then, when he climbed into the ring, he delivered a tepid performance at best.
Yes, there are others who are sources of frustration and anger -- most notably the media. Still, McCain's people understand that they don't have a helluva lot of control over the mainstream media.
But they do like to think that they might have some sway over McCain.
In politics you simply don't get to win the top prize without fighting like hell, especially if you're not an incumbent.
So, don't buy all that nonsense about hatred and vitriol. There's more than enough frustration to go around.
But, it's a renewed fighting spirit that the McCain people are interested in -- what FDR used to call "a good fight." It's the type of spirit Truman used to relish and Reagan used to excel at.
That's what the crowd wants: Stand up, lead the charge, fight, win!

The Phabulous Phightins!

A friend who was there writes this eyewitness account from Thursday night's Phillies game:
What a night, what a game. It was all too exciting. We were in the Hall of Fame section--which is the area behind home plate. A private elevator takes you up to where the club and private boxes are. We had dinner there and then viewed alot of memorabilia from Phillies days gone by. Our seats were a couple of rows below the press and TV boxes--perfect viewing. Of course, the most important thing is that we won the first game. I don't know if you saw that before the game the various military branches lined the field with the 50 state flags and behind them was a gigantic flag, that covered the entire outfield carried by more military men. Very moving, especially when they also lit the sky with fireworks. It was a proud moment for everyone in the stadium. Our city has waited a long time for this--and it was a great beginning. Dare I think The World Series!

Cheers For Ernie!

I've been reading Ernest Borgnine's autobiography simply titled Ernie and it's a remarkable story of an seemingly ordinary guy who became a major Oscar-winning Hollywood star.

I suppose you could say that Ernest Borgnine was the ultimate everyman -- the ordinary Joe (or in this case, Marty) who captured the imagination of audiences everywhere.

But beyond his Academy Award winning performance in Paddy Chayefsky's Marty, Borgnine has produced a huge and impressive body of work on both the big and small screen.

Yes, we wept at his impressive portrayal of Marty but we also gasped when he took on Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity … we were riveted by his compelling performances in The Dirty Dozen, Bad Day at Black Rock, and Ice Station Zebra … and we laughed at his television sitcom McHale's Navy.

Many of us loved all of Ernest Borgnine's portrayals, but what did we really know about the man behind the famous roles? In this book, for the first time, he tells us in his own words the fascinating story of his life in a witty, candid, and revealing manner.

This is an easy and fun read with with a good insight into the everyday workings of Hollywood. You'll learn about some of the people and moments that made the great movies and the TV shows that marked the golden age of television.

Borgnine reveals personal insights and stories about cinema's greatest icons-including Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Kirk Douglas, Montgomery Clift, Gary Cooper, Janet Leigh, Raquel Welch, GeneHackman, Rock Hudson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Curtis, Alan Ladd, Glenn Ford, and Burt Lancaster. And with characteristic frankness, he also talks about his off-screen loves and passions.

Ernie's is a compelling story.

Urban Schools' Failure

From Mensah M. Dean at the Philadelphia Daily News:
Looking back on her brief stint as a Philadelphia schoolteacher causes "Rebecca" to shake her head sorrowfully.
Every day of that career, she says, she had to break up fights between her fourth-graders, who cursed and threatened each other - often making good on the taunts.
She spent far more time on discipline than on teaching.
Administrators at Samuel H. Daroff School offered her little help and did not provide a promised mentor teacher, she says.
So, on the seventh day of classes, Rebecca quit - walking away from a $41,000-a-year job in the School District of Philadelphia.
Rebecca - not her real name - has $50,000 in student loans, but says she does not regret leaving because her mental health was at stake.
"It was the worst experience of my life," she says of the first day of class, Sept. 4, at the West Philadelphia school.
To read the rest of the story click here.