JUAN, two, three.......how many Juans ARE THERE?

Juan Hernandez, popular slimey mouth piece for the Mexican government joined McCain's campaign in November of 2007 with no fanfare, no loud public announcement. Did many of you hear about it? Hernandez is frequently on television, rather handsome in a Smith Brothers lozenges way, with a satanic kind of smug smile, telling America we have to suck it up and accept the wonderful illegals without whom we won't have anyone to do our work. According to this Vicente Fox pal, we are supposed to be 'grateful' that his people from Mexico even come here to do our work. Of course, in television interviews, he forgets the part about our needing to feel grateful for their forcing much needed hospitals not far from me to close because they can't stay open under the financial load of treating illegals for free. He's apparently forgotten, too, how our schools have gone to seed because our teachers are teaching English to kids instead of the subject.

And this guy is on McCain's CAMPAIGN!? WHY? So he can convince illegals to vote for Juan McCain? Am I missing something here?

Ya, my SANITY. oy.

ADDENDUM FRIDAY MORNING: John McCain spoke to LA RAZA. He's using "WE" for them and him.. "THEY" are you and me, those who are against the racist agenda of this group which champions things I'm hoping McCain doesn't quite understand. Maybe living on the Left Coast gives me a slightly better insight into the group because we hear about them and fear them so much here.

MORE FOR FRIDAY MORNING: FOX's headline this morning:

McCAIN HAS THE ENDORSEMENTS
ROMNEY HAS THE CASH

Now, there's an endorsement for Romney, huh? "The RICH GUY ONLY HAS CASH" As if. As if he has nothing to say. As if we don't know the endorsements aren't strong-arm RNC directives? TED OLSEN, a hero of yours truly, a huge Giuliani supporter last week, has endorsed McCain.

McCain will be president. I can only hope he goes further Right after the election. We can't change character, but we can hope to change agenda.

By the way....McCAIN CONSIDERED THE VP SLOT WITH JOHN KERRY A FEW YEARS BACK...because "we've been good friends, so I'd consider it." THIS is what we have to fight. But, it's this same "good old boys club" which is pushing John McCain so hard. He knows how to play both sides.....if it doesn't always seem to be on America's side, as Romney does, I guess we have to go with the flow or CHANGE THINGS. But HOW?

The FRENCH? Z's going on about THE FRENCH? THOSE FRENCHIES?

At ten thirty, she sweeps up the torn Metro tickets, the crumpled, empty cigarette packs, and paper sugar cube covers. I watch her every morning, as my husband and I have our morning café crème and baguette with butter. That is to say, as my husband has those delicious things, and I have a bitter, black café with cold water, a taste combination I have grown to savor. We say “bonjour” to everybody who’s behind the counter as we walk in, the proprietor, Serge, the black-vested barman, Brigitte, the blonde woman with a braid down her back which brushes her waist, and a little blonde woman with overly pinked cheeks. Every morning, it’s “bonjour,” or “merci, au revoir”, when we leave through the crowds standing at the bar getting their morning fix of caffeine and nicotine. She never leaves the back of the bar except to sweep, and we’ve never come to know her name.

We do know the names of our favorite servers we have come to know well in the 2 ½ years we’ve lived near the Place Victor Hugo in Paris. We have felt like family for the last year, with Jean Paul, Mayda, and Jean Claude. They kiss our cheeks, or my hand, as we come in every morning, or on the evenings when we have dinner there. We talk about recipes, discussing the benefits of adding an egg yolk to mashed potatoes, or chestnuts to red cabbage at Christmas (Jean Paul went almost down to his knees in rapture when he talked about that!).

In the 2 ½ years we’ve come in to the café, I know the little blonde woman with the rouged cheeks has learned we’re not French…one only has to listen to my ‘Bon Jour’ to know that. I like to think that whatever else Jean Paul or Mayda might have said about us is kind. We have deep affection for these people and I think they do for us, too.

This morning, the blonde woman and I spoke for the first time. My husband and I sat fairly close to the bar and she had to sweep around our table so I lifted my purse off the ground to get it out of her way. “Don’t move, Madame, it is fine there,” she said in French. My husband made a comment about the mess on the floor, “there are ashtrays on the tables, why are there cigarette butts on the floor?” he complained. “The Parisiens,” she said. We laughed, my husband and I, but she was very serious. “No!” I said, “not just because they’re French…people from other countries are messy, too!” She looked at me and said “I knew you’d say that, I knew I’d get that reaction!” Apparently, Jean-Paul has told her what a fan of the French I am! “I’m from Normandy. You won’t see this there. Have you been there?”

“Normandy,” I said, “yes, we have been there. There are so many beautiful towns, and I love the specialties in Normandy, all the wonderful butter and cream, the blanquette de veau.” She looked proud. Tell the French you love their food, they’ll be yours forever. “Ah, oui, blanquette de veau…c’est magnifique!” She dragged her broom around floor under my chair and then stopped again. “In Normandy, we like the Americans,” she said, smiling.

“OH, I don’t think so!” I said to her..“I thought the French don’t usually like Americans,” I said, baiting her a bit but enjoying the compliment. She stopped sweeping, held the broom straight up in front of her, and looked directly into my eyes. “In Normandy we do…we will never forget what the Americans did for us. In Normandy, we like the Americans very much.”

I watched as she continued sweeping. She looked up from the floor and caught my eyes again, “very much.” I was almost moved to tears. She stopped again, leaning the broom stick in the cradle of her arm. “In Normandy, we have a statue of Patton….THIS high,” she gestured to about 7 feet in the air. We will never forget what the Americans did for us. Maybe in Paris they forget, but never in Normandy.” Suddenly, I felt seven feet tall, too.

I watched the blonde woman as she finished sweeping and brushed everything into the dustpan and into the trash. She put her broom away in the corner and went back behind the bar where she, again, became a one-woman perpetual café machine……never stopping, never ceasing to be pleasant, to offer a croissant, telling people to have a good day “bonne journee!” on their way out.

She looked up through the crowd and smiled at me, as she leaned forward, wiping off the bar top with a towel. How proud I felt this morning, like I’d actually helped the French myself! Who was I to take the compliment, I thought? Who am I? I wasn’t even born then. But I am an American. And, this morning, it felt even better than usual.


*** most of you know Z and Mr. Z lived in Paris for four years, until Dec 2002. I wrote a lot of small pieces about life there and will publish them from time to time. I hope you enjoy them. The French aren't really so bad. Even their government's improving.......

A Couple of Thoughts..and a WARNING!!

I just heard a Reagan quote on Laura Ingraham's show this morning:

it went something like: "The Left has gone so far left that they might have actually left America........" You have to hand it to Reagan.

Who you can't 'hand it to' are the people in a poll on Ingraham's website which asks her mostly Conservative listeners:

"Will you consider sitting out the election if John McCain is the nominee?"

Are you sitting down, friends? 63% said YES. Ya, NOW you're sitting. Think about that. This is the ULTIMATE in "Cutting off your nose to spite your face". It's "Okay, we don't like McCain, so we're going for a Democrat who'll go against everything we stand for, someone who'll appoint liberal judges who will be on the bench for years to come, bring US so far Left that WE might actually have to leave America!" WHAT is with these people?

Please talk to your conservative friends, make SURE they VOTE! I don't like McCain AT ALL, either, but NOT VOTE? It's not like that's not going to help the Left! With a win for them, in a Democrat congress, they'll be brushing us farther left and farther left...........well, you know you're all welcome to my Left Coast, but I hope you all know how to SWIM...................!

The Media IN the Ballot Box? IN IT??

Just seems to me that the media's running the shots even more than I thought. Almost everyone I know wanted to vote for Thompson.....friends and talk radio callers said the same thing; "Yes, I'd vote for Thompson, but he doesn't have a chance." Who said so? Who ordained him as the "No Chance Kid"? We were told he had the best and most complete position papers and that they were all out there for all to see. Anyone actually SEE them? Not me. You, neither? Fancy that.

Giuliani was the Golden Boy...did any of us doubt, 3 months ago, that he'd not be the Republican nominee? I sure thought he would. Then the media erupted with new Bernard Kerik gossip and went crazy with the stories of his having girlfriends driven around by cops, so where did ol' Rudy go? Under cover (maybe with her, but...I digress). He disappeared.

So...let's do the math: Thompson's out ("he doesn't have a chance"!) Rudy's out ("couldn't take the gossip?") Candidates: 0, Media : 2 (good Republicans go down)

But, like a Phoenix out of the Ashes, Giuliani's back, except he's not going to the small state primaries.....he disses them but announces "I'm going to win FLORIDA! I'll win FLORIDA!" Uhoh. Except, he did NOT win Florida. Here was the scene in Florida... Harold and Esther are sitting at home in their pink split level with the flamingo in the front yard hearing Rudy tell the world that he doesn't need New Hampshire because HE HAS FLORIDA! But, Harold says to Esther "who the heck does he think HE is.......he can't take us for granted. I'm not voting for him now....."

And then, the guy who was nowhere only 3 weeks ago, is the No. One Guy!? JUAN MC CAIN-EDDY? Yes, John McCain.

And the media loves McCain. CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS....if he weren't a Republican, you'd think they liked him! They're calling him "the frontrunner" "the one to beat" . Since when? Since the media told us so by using these expressions. And now some nuts are saying McCain might pick Huckabee for his VP. HUCKABEE? Here's my take:

McCain is the Media's Golden Boy now. But, just wait until he's the candidate...and he will be, before the red/white/blue paint on the Republican Convention decorations have dried...McCain, signed, sealed, and delivered. Then the media will turn, watch for it. He'll be "McCain, the 72 year old who...." (too OLD), or "McCain, who had malignant melanoma and whose future isn't assured...." (too RISKY), or "McCain, divorced....." or "McCain, the HOTHEAD who was in solitary confinement too long..(too Hot Headed) and "McCain, who supports the war in Iraq..." Add to that Mr. Mike "we have to bring America back to Jesus" Huckabee ...and you don't think THAT is a LEFTIST MEDIA DREAM? I could win the presidency against them! With your kid brother as my running mate!! OH, yes..for a guy who loves Jesus, you have to admit the Leftist media hasn't taken their gloves off with him. Yet.

OH, yes... Obama or Hillary versus John McCain and Huckabee. Maybe then, Harold will say to Esther "Oyyy.." but, it'll be too late.

What happened to Romney? Does he still have a chance? you tell me. Lie, be optimistic......I'll swallow anything for a political lift today. Giulini, however, is apparently going to endorse McCain. So, at least we'll have a fairly good Attorney General or Secretary of State, huh?

IF the Republicans win. And, if it's up to the media, we will not.

Brrrr!!!!!

......A picture you won’t see from the "climate hysteria people" is a boy in the outskirts of Athens/Greece covering himself from snow and cold air. Let’s see: We had record snow and low temperatures in Bulgaria and the surrounding areas, in Lebanon and the surrounding areas, in Moscow (sinking into unusually much snow), China has currently huge problems with snow, California is pummeled with one cold storm after the other (rain and snow), and the list goes on and on. And, remember, the last winter in the Southern hemisphere 6 months ago brought snow to areas which have very rarely any snow, such as Buenos Aires..... I wonder how that would be explained by Gore and his "scientists". By-the-way: The average temperature last year (2007) in the world was lower than in the year before.

All I am saying is: There might be some general warming happening, if it does, the impact by man made effects is very doubtful at best (may be in the order of a couple of percent of the total). It is preposterous to think that we are able to influence the weather one way or the other. Consequentially, the "panic measures" such as those pushed for instance by the socialists and greens in Germany put an unnecessary burden on us. As President Bush said yesterday: We should consider measures only if all other major industrial Nations (particularly the upcoming ones like China and India) commit to the same measures.

That is not to say that we don’t need to do anything. We should improve the way we operate, but on a more convenient pace, since panic moves have the tendency to go into the wrong direction. But one issue, independent from the climatic hysteria, needs to be dealt with: We need to become more independent from oil supplies from the middle East, and fast, before these people become so rich from our own money that they buy all of our infrastructure in the West. A horrifying thought, and we are way beyond the beginning of it, it happens right in front of our eyes (and the irony is that these investors are then touted as „saviors“ of our corporations as they are buying shares with our own money). This is much more of a threat to our society than anything else combined. It is just ignored, until it is too late. It just shows: We have our priorities completely wrong: While scratching our heads worrying about what to do with CO2, we provide our money to those very people who then buy our real estate and corporations and, in addition, provide the funds to the terrorists who threaten our society. Contributed by Mr. Z

Robbing Peter to Pay Z??

Well, if Mr. Bush didn't nail it with THIS one tonight during the State of the Union! "Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome their enthusiasm. I'm pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders. (Laughter and applause.)"

I would also like them to have my name and address in case they don't feel like giving more to the IRS and feel such guilt for not giving it ALL away! Isn't that how the Left wants it? "Robbing Peter to pay Paul?" Heck, I'm NO PAUL, trust me, but I'd like a few of those Peters, you should pardon the expression!

But, seriously, folks... Mr. Bush is exactly right. If you have extra money, don't make our government look suspect because it believes in the benefits of cutting taxes for all of us, do what we've all felt that IRS form's been telling us to do for years, which is the following:

TAX FORM

1. How much money do you make?

2. Send it in.

I hope that quote of Mr. Bush's gets plenty of air time tomorrow....with our PRAVDA media, you never know, do you. z

Thanks to Elmer's Brother

This should have been my very first post because it is so important, but it is my second: I want to thank Elmer's Brother, for putting my blog together. If any of you think I could have managed this computer feat by myself, I thank you for your confidence in me even as I laugh myself silly! He was patient, untiring, kind and so encouraging! Thank you, EB!
The photo is one from my wonderful husband's walks on the Santa Monica bluffs...thank you, Werner! For the photo and your support in every single thing I do except turn the heater on at night.
The inspiration for this blog comes from EB, who thinks I have something to say, what a blessing he is; the enthusiasm for this blog is contributed by Jean in West Virginia, whose friendship and support always feel so good. Jean also thinks I can change voters' hearts before the '08 election. I sincerely hope so. (that would be change their hearts away from McCain, please, God...if I'm really lucky, with friends who'd like to chime in here, we can change some hearts from Hillary or Obama to the Republican candidate....this is a Conservative's blog, why beat around the bush?)

The Mountain needs climbing

If life was easy, I suppose we could slip right into it and go along for the ride, but I'm thinking that the difficulties make it worth the ride. And who really wants to just slip through life, anyway? And, of course, you can't slip right UP a mountain!
The mountain's a goal, it's the symbol of reaching the top, "Climb Every Mountain", that heavenly tip of snow in the clouds high above to which we aspire. We need footholds to get to the top; fears, losses, disappointments, doubt, setbacks....we get through them, we take another foothold, we climb...they make us stronger, they help us climb higher and higher. To heaven.