Theodore's World

In this photograph provided by ‘Meet the Press,’ Ralph Nader appears on ‘Meet the Press” Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008, at the NBC studios in Washington. Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will ‘shift the power from the few to the many.’
(AP Photo/Meet The Press, Alex Wong)

Nader announces new bid for White House
Yahoo news
WASHINGTON
Ralph Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will “shift the power from the few to the many.”
Nader, 73, said most people are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties due to a prolonged Iraq war and a shaky economy. The consumer advocate also blamed tax and other corporate-friendly policies under the Bush administration that he said have left many lower- and middle-class people in debt.

“You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected,” he said. “You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts.”

“In that context, I have decided to run for president,” Nader told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Nader also criticized Republican candidate John McCain and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton for failing to support full Medicare for all or cracking down on Pentagon waste and a “bloated military budget. He blamed that on corporate lobbyists and special interests, which he said dominate Washington, D.C., and pledged in his third-party campaign to accept donations only from individuals.

“The issue is do they have the moral courage, do they have the fortitude to stand up to corporate powers and get things done for the American people,” Nader said. “We have to shift the power from the few to the many.”

Nader also ran as a third-party candidate in 2000 and 2004, and many Democrats still accuse him of costing Al Gore the 2000 election.
Obama, responding Saturday to Nader’s earlier criticisms that he lacked “substance,” praised Nader as a “heroic figure.”

“In many ways he is a heroic figure and I don’t mean to diminish him. But I do think there is a sense now that if somebody is not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, then you must be lacking in some way,” Obama said.

Clinton called Nader’s announcement a “passing fancy” and said she hoped his candidacy wouldn’t hurt the Democratic nominee.

“Obviously, it’s not helpful to whomever our Democratic nominee is. But it’s a free country,” she told reporters as she flew to Rhode Island for campaign events.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, speaking shortly before Nader’s announcement, said Nader’s past runs have shown that he usually pulls votes from the Democrat. “So naturally, Republicans would welcome his entry into the race,” the former Arkansas governor said on CNN.

Nader vociferously disputes the spoiler claim, saying only Democrats are to blame for losing the race to George W. Bush. He said Sunday there could be no chance of him tipping the election to Republicans because the electorate will not vote for a “pro-war John McCain.”

“If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form,” Nader said.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
I’m SHOCKED, SHOCKED I tell ya…….. hahahaha
I say let them all enter! Maybe even Bloomberg will enter too. hahaha The Democrats don’t like Nader, so this will just add to the mix.

Huckabee Lingers on the Set of ‘SNL’
Miami Examiner
NEW YORK
Even though Mike Huckabee is still battling for the Republican presidential nomination despite long odds, he said Saturday he won’t “overstay his welcome.” Then he did precisely that, lingering on the “Weekend Update” set of “Saturday Night Live” despite repeated cues to leave the stage.
The former Arkansas governor appeared in a “Weekend Update” segment in which he described his confusion over whether it is mathematically impossible for him to win the nomination over front-runner John McCain. After anchorman Seth Meyers explained the numbers, Huckabee responded: “I’m not a math guy, I’m more of a miracle guy. So at this point I’m gonna focus on the miracle part.”

However, he said: “Mike Huckabee does not overstay his welcome. When it’s time for me to go, I’ll know. And I’ll exit out with class and grace.”

Then he remained seated at the “Update” desk even though Meyers made it clear it was time for him to leave.

SNL,” known for its political humor, has been on the sidelines for nearly four months because of the Writers Guild of America strike. The political landscape has changed a great deal since then, with easy targets for the show’s satire, like Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, dropping out of the Republican race, and Barack Obama overtaking Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Democratic side.
The last time NBC broadcast a new episode of “SNL,” on Nov. 3, Obama played himself as a guest at a party thrown by Hillary and Bill Clinton. McCain hosted an episode of the show in 2002; Giuliani hosted in 1997, when he was mayor of New York City

Wild Thing’s comment……..
LOL oh dear me, Huckabee just can’t understand his 15 minutes of fame are over and done. If he were Cinderella the slipper would still be lost, the coach outside would already have left and the Prince would have gone home long long ago. giggle

Vice President Dick Cheney took the unusual step Friday of joining with lawmakers in signing a Supreme Court brief that goes further in support of gun rights than the one submitted by the Bush administration.
Cheney Joins Supreme Court brief in challenge to D.C. handgun ban
MSNBC
WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney took the unusual step Friday of joining with lawmakers in signing a Supreme Court brief that goes further in support of gun rights than the one submitted by the Bush administration.
The filings were made in a case that challenges the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns. It was scheduled to be argued on March 18.
Both briefs argue that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns. However, the administration contends that too categorical a ruling could threaten other federal gun restrictions and wants the justices to send the case back to lower courts without deciding whether the handgun ban should fall.
Cheney joined more than 300 senators and representatives, led by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who want the court to rule that Washington’s ban is unconstitutional.

“The vice president believes strongly in Second Amendment rights,” Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said.

Seventeen Democratic lawmakers and District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton urged the court to uphold the ban.
Lawyers with long experience at the court could not recall another case in which a vice president took a position different from that of his own administration.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
Cheney has the conservative’s back on this one. Bravo!
We have been waiting a lifetime to have the Surpreme Court affirm our Second Amendment rights. Now Bush’s Solicitor General has argued against that affirmation.
Make no mistake about it, if even one gun is deemed to be able to be banned by municipalities across this nation, then those municipalities will be able to set their own scales as to what is deemed worthy of banning or not. It will be open season on weapons of all types, because of ‘their inherent danger’.
I can’t believe Bush sold us out on this one, but the man has.
This could be a very very damaging ruling by the Supreme Court, if it allows carve outs. It could essentially be the end of the right to own guns in our nation, all but a select few that will be essentially worthless to defend ourselves against what the criminals will have. And criminals will always have access to any gun they want.
RINOs will be the death of our rights and our nation. We must demand better, or we will wind up with much worse.
Cheney is 100 times the man that GWB could ever hope to be. And on waterboarding and Cneney…. Cheney:”Waterboarding? We use it. It works. Next”

Daniel Gilyeat and his family are getting a renovated home from ABC’s popular show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
Gilyeat is a father and Marine who served two tours in Iraq. On his second tour, which he volunteered for, he was injured on a mission when a bomb struck his vehicle.
Gilyeat suffered serious injuries and lost his left leg above the knee. In addition, his marriage ended and he suddenly became a single father. But 25 days after losing his leg, Gilyeat was up and walking with a prosthetic leg and inspiring other wounded soldiers by visiting them in hospitals and speaking with their families.
Household chores were difficult for Gilyeat because the home was not handicap-accessible. The floors were uneven and the doors were too small to get through.
The work on the home was done in 7 days.

Some behind-the-scenes looks at the upcoming episode that will aired Sunday, February 10, 2008.

“I have always been amazed by the spirit and motivation of Sgt Gilyeat. He is always a very firm and strong leader, but keeps himself approachable. This makes Daniel easy to like and easy follow, but you always know that you don’t want to cross his path. Even when I was still a junior Marine finding my place in the unit, Sgt Gilyeat would find the time to talk with me and other new Marines and make up feel welcome, like we were part of the brotherhood. You can always see the gentleness in his eyes, but it’s also easy to see that this is one guy who you want working with you, and not against you. I admire his rugged appreciation for all things Marine.”

Sgt Daniel Gilyeat, Extreme Makeover Home Edition

‘Makeover’ Crews Add Flag Pole For Iraq Veteran

Veterans Help Build ‘Makeover’ House

Gilyeat Family Sees ‘Extreme Makeover’ House

Surprises Continue For Gilyeat Family

Wild Thing’s comment…….
I have never seen this show but I am impressed how they support our troops like this. I tried to put the videos in some kind of order so you could get the feel of how this all came about.
If only our politicans could all be as supportive of our troops like we are learning how business’s are, it would be so awesome.

Image is from the movie ” Scarface”, it is what came to my mind when I saw Hillary as she fired back at Obama today.

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Hillary Clinton: “Shame on You, Barack Obama”
CBS News
CINCINNATI

Today, Hillary Clinton aggressively went after Barack Obama, criticizing him for playing similar political games to Karl Rove and at one point saying, “Shame on you, Barack Obama.”
Speaking to reporters following a rally at a community college here, Clinton slammed Obama and his campaign for distributing mailings to Ohio voters attacking Clinton’s universal health care plan and her position on NAFTA.

“Today in the crowd I was given two mailings that Senator Obama’s campaign is sending and I have to express my deep disappointment that he is continuing to send false and discredited mailings with information that is not true to the voters of Ohio. He says one thing in speeches and then he turns around does this,” Clinton said waiving the two mailings at the cameras.

“Just because Senator Obama chose not to present a universal health care plan does not give him the right to attack me because I did. So let’s have a real campaign. Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s playbook, this is wrong and every Democrat should be outraged.”

“Everything in those mailers is completely accurate,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. “We look forward to having a debate this Tuesday on the facts, and the facts are that Senator Clinton was a supporter of NAFTA and the China permanent trade treaties until this campaign began. And she herself has said that under the Clinton health care plan, she would consider ‘going after the wages’ of Americans who don’t purchase health insurance, whether they can afford it or not,” Burton continued.

Clinton’s tough tone and sharp words are a stark difference from her tone and appearance on a debate in Austin, Texas two days ago.
When asked about her new tone Clinton skirted the question going back to the mailings and attacking the Obama campaign for funding them.

“This election is about misleading, false and discredited attacks that interfere with voters being able to make an informed judgment,” she said.

“I am not going to stand here and see this campaign polluted by the kind of misleading, discredited and false attacks. We deserve better than that. He’s been called out on it, he has been contradicted on it, he knows better and here it is ‘Paid for by the Obama for America Campaign.’”

“So, shame on you Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public, that’s what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio and let’s have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign.”

Earlier at the rally, she slammed President Bush, saying that under his presidency “the American people got shafted.”

She also suggested a parallel between Bush and her opponent Barack Obama, saying that talking “about change” doesn’t necessarily translate into a successful presidency.

“You know people talk a lot about change in this election,” Clinton said.

”We have lived through some of the worst change anybody could imagine over the last 7 years. Do you think people voting in 2000 knew what they were getting? I don’t. People thought they were getting a compassionate conservative; and it turns out we got neither and we have lived with the consequences of those mistakes year after year after year.”

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!” she added.

“Now more than ever we need a president we can count on, a president who’s in it for you,” said Clinton.

Clinton will hold another event in Ohio today before heading to Louisiana and Texas later this evening.

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HERE are the first mailesr of the presidential race and it’s a doozy.
“Only Barack Obama consistently opposed NAFTA,” it declares. “A little more than a year ago, Hillary Clinton thought NAFTA was a ‘boon’ to the economy,” it continues (citing a 9/11/06 item in Newsday). And, “Hillary Clinton was not with Ohio when our jobs were on the line. Why should we be with her now?”
The piece targets not just Clinton’s record on trade but her credibility. It says that she is “changing her tune” now that she’s campaigning in places like Ohio, but when Obama says he will fix broken trade deals “we can believe him.”

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Wild Thing’s comment……..
“So let’s have a real campaign. Enough with the speeches and the big rallies and then using tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s playbook, this is wrong and every Democrat should be outraged.”
WOW! She is not only b!tching like only America’s Ex-Wife could, but her jealously of Obama’s turnouts compared to hers is on display like a billboard.
Her challenge to B.Huessin Obama…..Meet me at dawn in Fort Marcy Park.
Being MAD to the Clinton’s = That is Clinton code for Mutual Assured Destruction

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Democrats Move to Shut Down GOP Earmark Reform Site as Murtha Is Named “Porker of the Year”
John Boehner’s site
House Democrats took steps to shut down a Republican-launched earmark reform website (http://earmarkreform.house.gov) yesterday, just as Senior Democratic House Member John Murtha (D-PA) won the title of 2007’s “Porker of the Year.”
Last August, the office of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Daniel Beard, approved House Republican Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) request to create the site, and since its launch earlier this month, it has been visited by thousands of online visitors and garnered subsequent media attention. Beard’s office has now ordered the site be removed, however, prompting Leader Boehner to protest the decision in a letter sent to the CAO yesterday afternoon:

“I am writing today to register my protest over this belated change, and to request a detailed explanation of the events that led your office to make this dramatic reversal,” wrote Boehner. “Changing its address now will inevitably hamper the effectiveness of the new website, much to the convenience of the majority that runs the House.”

Coincidentally, the move comes just as Rep. Murtha, a close ally of Speaker Pelosi, won the title of 2007’s “Porker of the Year.” Murtha, a well-known champion of wasteful earmarks, won the award from the non-partisan government spending watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). According to a press release from CAGW:

“Rep. Jack Murtha has long been known inside the Beltway for using threats, power plays, and backroom deals to control spending decisions. There is an area of the House floor known as ‘Murtha’s Corner,’ where the legendary appropriator dispenses earmarks. The overwhelming vote for Porker of the Year vote shows that his shameful behavior is attracting attention throughout the country. The congressman inserts pork whenever he can to serve himself and his district. In fiscal year 2008, he brought home 72 pork projects worth $149.2 million.”

And “Porker of the Year” isn’t the only “honor” that Murtha has received. Last year a CNBC report referred to him as Washington’s “most powerful porker” and just last month he was labeled by the New York Times as the “The Pork King” in an editorial that detailed Murtha’s questionable earmarking practices.
And continuing his practice of thumbing his nose at American taxpayers, next week Murtha will host an “annual payback dinner by defense contractors who benefit from earmarks,” according to columnist Robert Novak. In other words, his addiction to pork isn’t slowing down.
Leader Boehner launched http://earmarkreform.house.gov to aid the efforts by House GOP members to reform the earmark system so Rep. Murtha and others like him are held more accountable for their behavior. The website is part of a larger Republican effort that includes a proposed earmark moratorium and the appointment of a bipartisan committee to identify ways in which to end wasteful Washington spending.
Democrats have flat-out rejected calls to join the effort and even voted against a GOP proposed earmark freeze. Perhaps that’s because, according to a February 14, 2008 article in The Hill, “Democratic leaders have sent tens of millions of dollars to freshman lawmakers’ districts in hope of protecting the party’s newfound majority come November.” In other words, they have no interest in changing the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars.

Wild Thing’s comment………
Way to go John Boehner! You are scum Murtha. We need to retake the House!

Happy Birthday to you Jack from everyone here at Theodore’s World.
And all the best wishes and many healthy, happy years into forever.
Thank you for being a part of Team Theodore and thank you for havig you blog Conservative Insurgent.

While on patrol in Iraq last October, Marine Maj. Brian Dennis and his squad got to know a dog who came around and took scraps of food. One night in late December, Dennis found the dog in bad shape. It was bitten, stabbed, nearly freezing and close to death. Dennis treated the dog, whom he called Nubs, and slept with him that night to keep him warm.

Dog Saved by Marine Gets Home in US
SAN DIEGO (Feb. 22)
AP Iraq news
It began with a simple act of kindness to save an abused, injured dog from becoming one more victim in the Iraq war.
But what followed for Marine Maj. Brian Dennis and the mutt was a tale of friendship and loyalty that spanned miles and overcame long odds – one set to take a turn Friday with the anticipated arrival here of the Marine’s best friend.

“This dog who had been through a lifetime of fighting, war, abuse … is going to live the good life,” Dennis told his family in an e-mail from Iraq.

The tale unfolded in October, a few months after Dennis deployed to Iraq from San Diego to work as part of the military team building infrastructure along the Syria-Iraq border and training Iraqi forces to take over.
Dennis, 36, of St. Pete Beach, Fla., had volunteered for the assignment. It was a departure from his role as a fighter pilot. He had seen the country from the air, but it was different on the ground.
Dennis wrote stories home about the reciprocal relationship that desert dogs, strays wandering outside border towns, had with Iraqis.

“The dogs get to eat the Iraqi scraps and have a home in the middle of the desert,” he wrote in an e-mail. “The Iraqis get an incredible early warning system; these dogs hear anything approaching from miles away and go nuts and scramble to defend their territory.”

While on patrol in the Anbar province, Dennis spotted what appeared to be a gray and white, male German shepherd-border collie mix. He named the dog Nubs after learning someone cut the ears off believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.
Within weeks, Nubs was greeting Dennis during routine patrol stops along border communities. The Marines fed him bits of their food and by November, the Marine and his unit were keeping an eye out for the dog, which routinely chased their Humvees when they departed.
Life on the run, however, was taking a toll on the dog. He had lost a tooth and been bitten in the neck. In late December, Dennis found Nubs near death in freezing temperatures. The dog had been stabbed with a screwdriver.
Dennis rubbed antibiotic cream on the wound and slept with Nubs to keep him warm.

“I really expected when I woke up for watch he would be dead,” Dennis wrote. “Somehow he made it through the night.”

Dennis thought he had seen the last of the dog days later when his squad headed back to its command post some 65 miles away. He couldn’t take the dog with him and watched as it tried to follow the Humvees away from the border.
Two days later, while Dennis and a comrade were working on a Humvee, he looked up and saw the dog staring at him.

“Somehow that crazy damned dog tracked us,” he wrote Jan. 9.

But the reunion was short lived. Military policy prohibits having pets in war zones, and Dennis was given four days to get the dog off the base or kill him.
The decision was easy: Nubs was going to San Diego. The logistics, though, were anything but easy.
With help from his Iraqi interpreter, Dennis managed to find a Jordanian veterinarian to get the care and paperwork needed to get the dog to the states. He also negotiated the red tape to get Nubs across the border into Jordan.
His family and close friends helped raise the $3,500 needed to get the dog from Amman, Jordan, to San Diego, said his mother, Marsha Cargo.

“I just can’t believe it. Out there in the middle of nowhere these two find each other,” Cargo said.

A colleague in San Diego agreed to care for the dog and have it trained until Dennis returns in March from Iraq.

“We anticipate a real steep learning curve for Nubs,” Capt. Eric Sjoberg said. “We want him to learn to just be a dog.”

For now, though, Dennis will settle for the knowledge that Nubs is finally safe – and waiting for his master to follow him.

Wild Thing’s comment………
Whew what a story, yes I am crying!!!! I love stories like this, they stay with a person for a long time. My prayers for Maj.Brian Dennis to stay safe and soon to be with his trusted friend Nubs.

….Thank you Mark for sending ithis story to me. I love it.

Mafia Name Generator

For your ‘Gansta’ name just CLICK
HERE

I put Nick’s first and middle name in, that is the name he used in showbiz.
This is what he got:
Mafia Name: Stefano Rubbernubs
Name I entered: Nick Dimitri

From the site it has tips:
Try different name combos, i.e. Joe, Joe Blow, Joey Jacob Blow, etc.
Try your friend’s or grandma’s name.
Try some gibberish.
Your Mafia Name name will change from time to time as more names are added to the list, so check back often!

This is the squadron patch Alex Raymond designed for the Marines in May 1945. He blended images of a masked (pilot’s goggles) Flash Gordon style warrior; the Marine Corps emblem; red and white uniform with a field of blue stars; the warrior with wings (probably representing the air crew); the sword as a lightning bolt (representing perhaps aircraft which strike from above) and standing on an aircraft rocket. The squadron adopted the new name ‘The Rocket Raiders’. It was listed as one of the best-designed squadron patches of World War 2.

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“U.S. Marines are the most peculiar breed of human beings I have ever witnessed. They treat service as if it was some kind of cult, plastering their emblem on almost everything they own, making themselves look like insane fanatics with haircuts to ungentlemanly lengths, worshipping their Commandant almost as if he was a god, and making weird animal noises like a gang of savages.

They’ll fight like rabid dogs at the drop of a hat just for the sake of a little action, and are the cockiest s-o-b’s I have ever known. Most have the foulest mouths and drink well beyond man’s normal limits, but their high spirits and sense of brotherhood set them apart. Generally speaking, the United States Marines I’ve come in contact with, are the most professional soldiers and the finest men and women I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a secondhand opinion. All militaries harden their recruits, instill the basics, and bend young men to their will. But the Marine Corps provides its members with a secret weapon. It gives them the unique culture of pride that makes the Marines the world’s premier warrior force.

The Navy has its ships, the Air Force has its planes, the Army its detailed doctrine, but ‘culture’, the values and assumptions that shape its members is all the Marines have. They call this culture, Esprit de Corps.

Alone among the U.S. military services, the Marines have bestowed their name on their enlisted ranks. The Army has Army Officers and soldiers, the Navy has Naval officers and sailors, the Air Force has Air Force Officers and airmen—- but the Marines have only Marines.”

General William Thornson, US Army

Wild Thing’s comment………..
Thank you Marines from this Navy Vet wife. I see where the left is continuing there attacks and protests at the Marine Corps Recruiting Centers in various places. It breaks my heart to see this happening. I wanted to find something that we seldom see patches from past wars that were used by the Marine Corps. I thought the one above was very special.

…Thank you Bob for sending this to me.