My Peanut Has a First Name - It's J-I-M-M-Y

Oh my peanut has a second name it's C-A-R-T-E-R. Oh, I love to eat them everyday and if you ask me why I'll say - cause Jimmy Carter has a way of messing up the USA.

Ah - the fond, and in the case of Carter's Presidency, the not-so- fond, remebrances of my youth. The above was a song to the tune of Oscar Meyer weiners that myself and my fourth grade compatriots could often be found singing while the foreign policy of the Carter administration collapsed and our parents waited in gas lines that are now almost beyond remembering. The only contributions I think that Jimmy Carter has made to our country have not been positive - astronomical inflation and stagflation, a foreign policy that was an embarrassment as American hostages were held for well over a year by a terrorist nation, and a "deal" that earned Carter a nod at a Nobel Peace Prize while giving our country a nuclear North Korea. Brilliant.

Now Jimmy Carter wants to weigh in on the current dissent that our current President is being barraged with on a daily basis regarding his so-called health care plan. ( By this time, one would think that Carter would have learned to keep his mouth shut) In his infinite wisdom, Jimmy Carter wants to raise the specter of Jim Crowe and suggest that those Americans with serious concerns regarding health care and other of the Presidents current and proposed policies were, frankly, racist.

"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American," Carter told "NBC Nightly News. Really? So, if one asserts serious concerns on policy or - *gasp* THE HORROR - a dissenting point of view - one is simply an ignorant racist, whose opinion should be ignored and whose voice should simply be silenced.

Using Carter's own logic then, wouldn't one also say that overwhelming criticisim of Israel is in fact anti-semetic? That can certainly be said of a man who proudly befriends Hamas and claims that their smears and targeting of Israel are "legitimate crticisms". Please. Said so-called peace loving peanut also was actively invovled in the pardoning of a former SS officer, known to have murdered thousands at the Mauthausen death camp in Austria. See here for more details.

Aside from all of this though, wasn't President Obama going to end racism as we know it? Wasn't this going to prove to the world, once and for all, that the nightmare of slavery is behind us? We can all feel good about how far we have come - except of course that we haven't, and those perpetuating the racism charge are the very individuals who promised to rid us of it. Sickening.

As for me, I believe in a color blind society. I teach my children that God loves people of all colors and made us all in his image because He loves wonderful variety! I believe that all people are the same, regardless of the color of their skin and I truly do judge my friends based on the content of their character and nothing more.
I find it disgusting that, when faced with even the slightest opposition, that those supporting this President come trotting out with the "racist" slur. It's sick. I hope that President Obama immediatley seperates himself from this charge and further, calls Carter out for his scurrilous behavior and insists that any such charge on the part of anyone in the Democratic party immediately be halted. Otherwise any thinking person might wonder if this charge of "racism" is nothing more than an attempt to draw our attention away from the Health care debacle and the man behind the curtain.

The AP's Way of Honoring the Fallen

I am a military wife and a military daughter. My blood runs red, white and blue and it always has. I love our military and I believe that every man and woman in our armed forces is a hero. To say that I have a hard time dealing with the treatment our military is given by the media is quite possibly the understatement of the century.

The latest outrage? This story from the Associate Press complete with picture showing the last moments of a Marines life. As if that weren't odious enough, all of this was without the consent of the family and in fact, was contrary to their wishes.

The freedom of information act allows both the media and individuals to get the names of the fallen. For years, this has been a cause that is dear to my heart. My friend, Judy Vincent, bas been fighting for years to change the law and make it so that familial consent is required before the names or the likenesses of the fallen can be used. In her case, a "man", and I use the term here lightly, in Phoenix, AZ. was using the names of the fallen on a t-shirt that he sold for his own personal gain. His pockets were swollen as a result of this young marines sacrfice. Something here definitely isn't right.

I understand that the situation is somewhat different here, but certainly the AP is selling stories, papers and page views with this controversy. So while their intention of raising awareness of the price paid by those in the military due to an ongoing and ever unpopular war may have been honorable, their lack of respect shown to the surviving members of this marines family was anything but.

AP, you should be ashamed!