Johnny D Music News: Illinois Review: Little Barry Thinks He's Reagan

David -Thanks for your thoughtful comments (and no need for your second note; no offense taken!I really appreciate the thoughtful challenges!)

1)My thesis on Obama's presence there is that, even though he acknowledged the honour of the near in this particular shooting (as he HAD to), his care to join the rest of his caucus in vilifying our robust decent shows that he's united with them.

hey can't get our arguments, so they try to shame us into shutting up.

2)Yes, the Dems bear full responsibility for our disastrous economy.There are a few mushy Republicans who joined in the overspending over the years, sure. but the main crime of the Republicans is in not screaming loudly enough or fighting hard enough to stop the Dems from what they were doing.The Community Reinvestment Act, the patronage of ACORN, the authorization of Fannie and Freddie, the opposition to Social Security reforms, heck, LBJ's welfare state and FDR's new deal!There have been Republicans with impure hands, yes, but in the main, our mess would not be without the Democrats.They did it to us, even if a few Republicans here and there helped them.

Remember Christ at the temple, blowing his top at the moneychangers?When anger is just, there's nothing wrong with it.I don't know how one can learn the papers today without being angry.Conservatives don't act with violence, of course (though dems often appear to), but conservatives channel that anger into powerful debate and into action in the election season.And there's nothing wrong with it.

What the dems want is not real peace as we English-speakers define it, they miss the peace of islam - a record better translated as "submission."

Re free trade. our founders were indeed believers in free trade.Our first war with England was the trade war that General Washington started in the 1760s, because George III was trying to heavily restrict the colonies ability to share with anyone but England (he wanted London merchants, called factors, to be the middlemen for all our international transactions).

So yes, our nation is fixed in free trade.Not necessarily totally duty-free trade, but the mostly unrestricted freedom to buy and sell internationally to mutual benefit.Some duty collection - a few percent, say - was certainly acceptable to our Framers, as it was the only important author of federal revenue.The main thing was that we believed in robust international trade, and when England tried to confine it, we fought a war of independence to keep them from ever restricting our right to sell again!

Cheers, JFD