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... Early on in my military career, way back when I was a PFC, my Battalion would occasionally have “Fun Runs”. A Fun Run is just like running for several miles. Except that it’s fun. Because people that outrank you say so. This is pretty much the Army equivalent to declaring “Our office is so much fun! On Friday we get to wear Hawaiian shirts!” It’s awesome if you happen to love Hawaiian shirts, but just kinda sucks if you have taste. One of the features of the Fun Run was that afterward the Battalion would gather together and hold...

Scott Walker has insisted he will be able to “compete anywhere in the country” as a candidate for president — but, at a private event in St. Louis on Sunday, Walker said he does not plan to compete in Florida, contradicting his own public assertions that he would not skip that primary. During a fundraiser at the St. Louis home of Rex Sinquefield, Missouri’s most active Republican donor, Walker reasoned that it “doesn't make a ton of sense for him to pour cash into Florida” with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in the race, said one person who was present...

From 1948 to 1961, there was a show called "This Is Your Life," hosted by Ralph Edwards. In it, an unsuspecting celebrity was lured to a place by a friend or family member where Edwards would surprise them. People from the celebrity's past would then come out one by one and tell stories of the celebrity's early life. A modern-day version of that program is "Finding Your Roots," the latest in a brilliant series about race, identity and heritage hosted by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Scheduled to air September 23 through November 25 on PBS. Check your local...

Hormel Foods apparently has a hankering for a peanut butter and bacon sandwich. The company primarily known for cured, smoked and deli meats said Thursday that it’s buying Skippy, the country’s No. 2 peanut butter brand, for about $700 million. Skippy, which was introduced in 1932 and is a staple in American pantries, is intended to increase Hormel’s presence in the center of the supermarket where shelf-stable foods are sold. It also gives the Austin, Minn.-based company a clearer path for growth overseas; Skippy is sold in about 30 countries and is the leading peanut butter brand in China, where...

It was one year ago this month that the solar manufacturer Solyndra filed for bankruptcy, defaulting on a $535 million federal loan. The company’s name has become Republican shorthand for crony capitalism and the left’s green lunacy. But the Solyndra story is not a scandal. It is an inevitable bump on the road to a clean-energy economy. And almost everything Americans think they know about Solyndra is wrong. For starters, this story has bipartisan roots. President George W. Bush signed the bill launching the Energy Department’s loan program in 2005, and his administration selected Solyndra from 143 applicants for the...

The only American president to publicly support Middle Eastern terrorism has completed a schmooze fest with a communist dictator in a country that appears on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist-sponsoring nations. It marks the latest “humanitarian” mission for Jimmy Carter, who just a few years ago became the only American commander-in-chief to participate in a hug fest with the head of the world’s leading Middle Eastern terrorist group. During that highly-publicized Syrian jaunt, Carter met with Hamas Leader Khaled Meshal who runs his violent operation from Damascus to avoid being arrested by the Israeli government. The sophisticated...

http://recovering-liberal.blogspot.com/2010/11/nostradamus-predicted-palins-2012.html

While many Americans are cutting back on their vacation plans or eliminating them altogether, Barack Obama is setting an aspirational example for all of us. Sure, times are tough, but perhaps we can enjoy a life of leisure vicariously through our betters. On July 16-18, the Obamas enjoyed their first summer vacation in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine. The idyllic town has long been favorite summer getaway for the rich and powerful going back to the Gilded Age. Truly a resort fit for a king public servant. Anticipating exhaustion from two long weeks in Washington, D.C., Michelle Obama is hosting her...

Las Vegas will essentially be closed to general aviation pilots trying to fly into the area for parts of July 8 and 9. A 19-hour presidential temporary flight restriction will shut down all three major GA airports in the area: McCarran International, Henderson Executive, and North Las Vegas. AOPA President Craig Fuller has reached out to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano once again to reiterate the negative economic impact these TFRs have on the local economies and the need for GA to be represented in the TFR planning process. Reminding Napolitano of the negative economic and public...

<p>I just switched from pro life to pro choice and from pro gun to anti gun. I've always supported amnesty for illegal aliens.</p>

Here’s hoping Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was kidding when he told the New York Times [NYT] he planned to donate the handcuffs used to shackle him last summer to the Smithsonian Institute’s museum of black history. Even by his self-serving standards it would be detestable, attempting to wrap himself in the robes of a civil rights martyr, as if he’d been bloodied while marching for justice, rather than arrested for mouthing off to a cop who had ironically come to his rescue.

RASMUSSEN: Obama Approval Index: -18 Strongly Approve 25% Strongly Disapprove 43% Total Approval: 45%

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll Thursday, January 21, 2010 Email to a Friend ShareThisAdvertisement The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15 (see trends). Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters nationwide give the President poor marks for his handling of the health care issue. Voters strongly oppose an excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans to help cover the cost of that plan. Opposition rises even...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12 (see trends). Fifty-seven percent (57%) of liberals Strongly Approve while 65% of conservatives Strongly Disapprove. Among political moderates, 32% Strongly Approve and 23% Strongly Disapprove (see other recent demographic highlights). Just 38% of voters nationwide now support the health care plan working its way through Congress. That matches the lowest level of support yet measured. The...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17 (see trends). Seventy-five percent (75%) of Republican voters say that Republicans in Congress are out of touch with the party’s base.Most believe that the average GOP Member of Congress is more liberal than the average GOP voter.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14 (see trends).

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 29% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -10. These are the President’s best ratings since before Thanksgiving

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -18