"The Star-Spangled Banner" with the Boston Pops... and Ayla Brown

I was alerted to this video in an email from my wonderful (biological) sister, and Sister in Christ, Mary Jen. She said in the email, "To my patriotic brother…this is probably the BEST version of Star Spangled Banner. Hope you enjoy it." Yes, Mary Jen, I enjoyed this very much! If it hadn't been for the miraculous Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, I wouldn't have had a clue who Ayla Brown was. But, now maybe, we'll all know. And I bet you could say the same thing. Well, at least if you saw Scott Brown's victory speech last week.

April 24, 2008 - Ayla Brown - "The Star-Spangled Banner" with the Boston Pops Ayla sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Boston's Fourth of July celebration accompanied by the Boston Pops (originally aired 07/04/06).

Video provided by yutoobe

Crisis of the Government Party ~ By Patrick Buchanan

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

"Obama's dilemma, evident in his State of the Union, is that the progressives, who were indispensable to his victories over Hillary, now feel betrayed, especially with apparent abandonment of health-insurance reform, while conservative Democrats and independents, who were indispensable in giving Obama his November [2008] victory, are angry and alienated and disposed to vote Republican to stop what they see as America's plunge into socialism."

By Patrick Buchanan Posted: January 29, 2010 ~ 12:12 am Eastern © 2010 President Obama is in a dilemma from which there appears to be no easy or early escape. Democrats are the Party of Government. They feed it, and it feeds them. The larger government grows, the more agencies that are created, the more bureaucrats who are hired, the more people who become beneficiaries, the more deeply entrenched in power the Party of Government becomes. At the local, state and federal level, there are 19 million to 20 million government employees. And if one takes only Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and earned income tax credits, we are talking about scores of millions who depend on government checks for the necessities of their daily life. These vast armies of voters – these tens of millions of government employees and scores of millions of government beneficiaries – are the big battalions of the Party of Government. They provide implacable resistance to any party that pledges to cut or curtail government. For they are fighting for their livelihood. And here is where Obama's dilemma arises. The progressives thought that with the takeover of both houses of Congress by veto-proof Democratic majorities, and the election of the most progressive of the candidates in the Democratic primaries save Dennis Kucinich, a new Progressive Era was at hand. Another New Deal, another Great Society. And early passage of a stimulus package of $787 billion, nearly 6 percent of the entire economy packed into a single bill, seemed to confirm that happy days were here again. But, at the same time, the federal takeover of AIG, General Motors and Chrysler and the bailouts of Fannie, Freddie and the Wall Street banks were igniting a Perot-style prairie fire that manifested itself in Tea Party rallies in the spring and town-hall protests in August. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi denounced these folks as "evil-mongers" engaged in the "un-American" activity of shouting down Democrats – though, when college radicals do it to conservatives, it is called "heckling" and the conservatives are instructed that they "just do not understand the First Amendment." Came November, Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey showed that the grass-roots rebellion was real and broad-based. This was confirmed by Scott Brown's astonishing upset in Massachusetts, where a state Obama won by 26 points went Republican by 6 points, with Brown capturing a Senate seat held by the Kennedy brothers since 1952. Talk about a fire bell in the night. READ FULL STORY >

Obama: The era of big government is ... eternal ~ By Larry Elder

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Larry Elder Posted: January 28, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2010 The Massachusetts "Miracle on Ice" hit Democrats like an avalanche crashing in on a downhill skier. Gone is their 60-vote, filibuster-proof Senate supermajority. Likely dead is the Senate version of health-care "reform," if not Obamacare altogether. Stunned and confused, Democrats now scramble around trying to decipher "what it means." President Barack Obama's hard-left base calls the loss of Teddy Kennedy's seat a wake-up call – for bigger spending. They see the defeat as a referendum for broader and bolder "health-care reform" that includes a so-called public option, higher taxes and an expansion of the number of insured through Medicare. Their argument goes like this: People are unhappy, not about reckless spending, but because Obama has governed like a "centrist." He's "caved in to special interests," hasn't gone far enough and hasn't increased government fast enough. He abandoned his "progressive agenda," and voters punished him. Voters, wanting more government, elected a guy who promised less. A Hofstra University professor represents this view in his analysis of "what it means": "The obvious solution, of course, would be a sharp turn to the left. Go where the real solutions are. Fight the good fight. Call liars 'liars' and thieves 'thieves.' Do the people's business. Become their advocate against the monsters bleeding them dry. Create jobs. Build infrastructure. Do real national health care. End the wars. Dramatically slash military spending. Produce actual educational reform. Launch a massive green energy/jobs program. Get serious about global warming. Kick a-- on campaign finance reform. Fight for gay rights. Restore the New Deal-era regulatory framework and expand it. Restore a fair taxation structure. Rewrite trade agreements that undermine American jobs. Rebuild unions. Fill the spate of vacancies in the federal judiciary, and load those seats up with progressives. Rally the public to demand that Congress act on your agenda. Humiliate the regressives in and out of the GOP for their abysmal sell-out policies." Good grief! So much for voters telling Obama to slow down and move toward the center. READ FULL STORY >

Way to go, Scott! ~ By Barbara Simpson

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

"Predictably, Obama blames George Bush for the Democrat loss, and the pundits regard Brown and his supporters as low-class, redneck, truck-driving boobs. "Whatever you call them, they outnumber the Harvard-educated, self-appointed elites who are hell-bent on destroying this country. "There's a reckoning coming."

By Barbara Simpson Posted: January 25, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2010 I didn't say it first, but I agree wholeheartedly. "This one's for you, Mary Jo." Last week's election of Scott Brown to replace Edward Kennedy in the U.S. Senate really was justice delayed for Mary Jo Kopechne, who died at the incompetent hands of the last Kennedy brother on July 18, 1969. Because of money, family and political connections, Teddy Kennedy left the scene of Mary Jo's drowning in the car he'd been driving and proceeded into a historic run as a fixture in Washington. This man, who never held a real job in his whole life, found his calling as a U.S. senator, ironically by completing the term of his brother John, who'd been elected president. When Teddy wanted re-election, he got it – again and again and again – ultimately serving eight full terms. His position in the Senate became "Kennedy's seat," as though it belonged to him. It did, but only because voters re-elected him, as though not to do it would insult the Kennedy name and family. He spent 46 years in office, his votes and legislation changing the United States from a free country to one that's now careening toward Marxist socialism. When Kennedy died Aug. 25, for the first time in decades it was an open race for his Senate seat. But Democrats didn't worry. It was Massachusetts, after all. They figured their candidate was a shoo-in. But something happened last Tuesday in that bluest of blue states, a state securely in the liberal pocket. What happened was that a young, mostly unknown Massachusetts politician, Scott Brown, beat the odds and won election to the U.S. Senate to complete Kennedy's unexpired term. It's poetic justice that Kennedy died before his term was up! Imagine! Democrat pundits figured wrong. Their candidate, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, lost. What made the results historic wasn't just that it was to fill Kennedy's term, but that it wasn't just any candidate who won. It was a Republican! Those pundits were really wrong. READ FULL STORY >

Repudiation of the unholy trinity ~ By Henry Lamb

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Henry Lamb Posted: January 23, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2010 The rebellion that swept across Massachusetts Tuesday should provide Washington's unholy trinity – Barry, Harry and Nancy – with convincing evidence that the American people will no longer tolerate their tyranny. Tyranny is the "arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority." Does this not describe perfectly the actions of the unholy trinity? Consider the so-called $787 billion "Stimulus Bill" that the public opposed, enacted with little Republican support. Consider the government takeover of General Motors, AIG and the banks. Consider the pending health-care bill the unholy trinity has twisted, shaped and manipulated into such a corruption that even the people of the nation's bluest state rejected it. The unholy trinity now must decide whether to follow the clear instructions of the people and repent from their tyrannical past, or choose instead to follow Master Saul Alinsky's advice given in "Rules for Radicals," which says, "When times get tough, step on the accelerator." Some of the president's advisers are telling him that now is the time to get tough and show strength and conviction of character by forcing his health-care bill through Congress. Nancy told reporters that regardless of the outcome of the Massachusetts election, "… we will have health care one way or another." Congressional underlings, however, who must face a hostile electorate in 10 months, are less confident. There is no doubt that the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts has dramatically altered the progress of the progressive agenda Obama is pursuing. This remarkable victory in no way reduces the urgency of continuing the rebellion across the country. The unholy trinity and the Marxist majority they lead are not defeated. They have simply been forced to slow down a little and devise new strategies. Their long-term goal is still "fundamentally transforming the United States of America" into a government that reflects their Marxist ideals. While they are trying to put the best possible spin on the Massachusetts debacle, they are also moving ahead with other initiatives that don't get the national spotlight. READ FULL STORY >