I am sure that CAIR-OK, the 

Mayor's of both Moore and Norman, 

with the help of Home Creations, 

will have something like this...

With Health Care passing last night let all sing!

1 year ago today Rick Santelli went on his Tea Party "rant" on CNBC!

Hat Tip to my friend Chris Faulkner

1 year ago today Rick Santelli
went on his Tea Party "rant" on CNBC!

Who would have knew what
almost 5 min on CNBC would do...

This is still just amazing!
Rick Santelli on the floor
of the Chicago Board of Trade
calling out President Barack Obama

President Obama, what will Michelle say LOL

President Barack Obama (C) and
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R)

Maybe you need to buy her that,
$6,000 VBH black manila alligator clutch
LOL

Demo Okla State Rep Ryan McMullen can not take it, Going to play in the Obama Administration

The Obama Administration today announced that Ryan McMullen will serve as Oklahoma State Director for Rural Development at the USDA.

In 2004 McMullen, by 162 votes was elected to the legislature at the age of 25, and has served a district that includes the four counties of Washita, Kiowa, Caddo, and Canadian, stretching from the Oklahoma City suburbs and encompassing a large amount of rural southwestern Oklahoma.

Early in McMullen’s career, he was elected by colleagues to serve in one of five elected leadership positions in the House of Representatives. McMullen’s service as Chairman of the Democratic Caucus made him the youngest legislator in Oklahoma history to be elected to House leadership. He currently serves as the ranking member of the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee.

McMullen hails from the small community of Burns Flat, Oklahoma, where he was the fourth generation raised on the family farm. McMullen credits his beginnings in leadership to the experiences he gained through the agricultural leadership organizations of 4-H and FFA. As a young man, McMullen was elected to serve as State President of the state’s largest youth organization, the Oklahoma 4-H Program and its 147,000 members.

Proceeding to Oklahoma State University, McMullen graduated as a Top Ten Senior man with a degree in agricultural economics. He then began a career in agriculture and economic development. Prior to his service in the Legislature, Ryan served as the Director of the El Reno Chamber of Commerce and Development Corporation. Currently McMullen and his family still operate a small cow/calf operation south of Burns Flat.

McMullen is expected to take the helm at USDA Rural Development in mid-July, at which time he will vacate his seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

"Ryan McMullen will be an important advocate on behalf of rural communities throughout the state and help administer the valuable programs and services provided by the USDA that can enhance their economic success," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

During his time as a state representative, his policy and legislative efforts have focused on agricultural and rural economic development issues. Previously, McMullen worked with the El Reno Chamber of Commerce and Development Corporation as Executive Director. He has broadcast radio experience and is familiar with rural economic issues throughout Oklahoma. McMullen holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University.

Rural Development administers and manages over 40 housing, business, and community infrastructure and facility programs as laid out by Congress through a network of 6,100 employees located in 500 national, state and local offices. These programs are designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America. Rural Development has an existing portfolio of over $114 billion in loans and loan guarantees.

The USDA provides leadership on food, agriculture and natural resources and touches the life of every American. Reflecting President Obama's commitment to expanding economic opportunities in rural America, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the USDA are working to enhance availability of broadband, promote the development of renewable energy, to conserve, maintain and improve our natural resources and environment, and promote a sustainable, safe, sufficient and nutritious food supply.

The Obama Card

Rick Santelli on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade (19 Feb 2009)

Rick Santelli Hammers Obama
on Subsidizing "Losers' Mortgages"

Amazing!

Rick Santelli on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade absolutely calls out President Barack Obama on his plan to essentially make taxpayers pay for people who took out bad mortgages.

'The government is promoting bad behavior... do we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages... This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage? President Obama are you listening?

How about we all stop paying our mortgage!
It's a moral hazard.'
Santelli says

Millions like her voted...

"It was the most memorable time of my life. It was a touching moment because I never thought this day would ever happen. I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know, if I help him, he's gonna help me."

Oklahoma City PD pulls man over for anti-Obama sign

An Oklahoma City police officer wrongly pulled over a man last week and confiscated an anti-President Barack Obama sign the man had on his vehicle.

The officer misinterpreted the sign as threatening, said Capt. Steve McCool, of the Oklahoma City Police Department, and took the sign, which read "Abort Obama, not the unborn."

Chip Harrison said he was driving to work when a police car followed him for several miles and then signaled for him to pull over.

"I pulled over, knowing I hadn't done anything wrong," Harrison said in a recent phone interview.

When the officer asked Harrison if he knew why he had been pulled over, Harrison said he did not.

"They said, 'It's because of the sign in your window,'" Harrison said.

"It's not meant to be a threat, it's a statement about abortion," Harrison said.

He said he disagrees with the president's position on abortion.

"I asked the officer, 'Do you know what abort means?'" Harrison said. "He said, 'Yeah, it means to kill.' I said, 'No, it means to remove or terminate.'"

Harrison said his sign was to be interpreted as saying something like: Remove Obama from office, not unborn babies from the womb.

The officers confiscated Harrison's sign and gave him a slip of paper that stated he was part of an investigation.

Harrison said he later received a call from a person who said he was a lieutenant supervisor for the Internal Investigations Department and wanted to know his location and return his sign to him.

According to Harrison, the supervisor said the Secret Service had been contacted on the matter and had told them the sign was not a threat to the president.

Harrison was asked if he would like to file a complaint. He said he was not sure but would take the paperwork, just in case.

But his run-in with the law wasn't over yet.

"The Secret Service called and said they were at my house," Harrison said.

After talking to his attorney, Harrison went home where he met the Secret Service.

"When I was on my way there, the Secret Service called me and said they weren't going to ransack my house or anything ... they just wanted to (walk through the house) and make sure I wasn't a part of any hate groups."

Harrison said he invited the Secret Service agents into the house and they were "very cordial."

"We walked through the house and my wife and 2-year-old were in the house," Harrison said.

He said they interviewed him for about 30 minutes and then left, not finding any evidence Harrison was a threat to the president.

"I'm still in contact with a lawyer right now," Harrison said. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

Harrison said he feels his First Amendment rights were violated.

McCool said the officer who pulled over Harrison misinterpreted the sign.

"We had an officer that his interpretation of the sign was different than what was meant," McCool said. "You've got an officer who had a different thought on what the word 'abort' meant."

McCool said the sign basically meant Obama should be impeached and it was not a threat.

"(The officer) shouldn't have taken the sign," McCool said. "That was (Harrison's) First Amendment right to voice his concern."

McCool said although the sign should not have been confiscated, the situation was made right in the end.

"We always try to do the right thing and in the end we believe we did the right thing by returning the sign," McCool said.

VA secretary nominee says he will automate Veterans Affairs

See Shinseki To Be Secretary of Veterans Affairs for back ground

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Veterans Affairs Department vowed during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday to transform the sprawling agency into a 21st century organization that relies heavily on automated processes.

Retired Gen. Eric Shinseki, a former Army chief of staff, also told the panel that he would work with Defense Department Secretary Robert Gates to ensure development of a seamless electronic health record for active-duty personnel and veterans.

Shinseki said the obstacle to developing the digital records was not technical but rooted in the leadership at VA and Defense, and if confirmed as VA secretary, he plans to discuss the matter with Gates.

Shinseki also said he wants to make VA's business practices as "paperless as possible" to streamline operations and support decision-making. He also promised that the department would not miss its deadline to start issuing checks under the new GI bill passed this summer. Shinseki said he intends VA to start sending payments to veterans by August, "with as few administrative problems as possible."

In an illustration of the problems Shinseki faces as he tries to make VA a paperless organization, outgoing VA Secretary James Peake told the House and Senate VA committees in a letter last October that the benefits payments the GI bill creates will require "significant manual processing" until the department can develop a claims processing system.

VA has hired the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command to build the system. Sources said last week that SPAWAR only recently started work on the system, just seven months before the GI bill goes into effect. Sources added that VA has allocated minimal staff to the project and has not yet hired a contractor.

In their comments to Shinseki, three senators on the VA committee -- Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas; and Roger Wicker, R-Miss. -- put the onus on Defense for the slow development of an electronic medical record system that the Pentagon and VA can share

Tester said he was concerned that the two departments don't have a seamless record despite working on the project for a year. "We need to get Defense to buy into it," he said. Hutchinson said Defense had not matched VA's commitment to the project.

Shinseki told the panel the technology to build a seamless electronic health record "is there" and it is "just a matter of getting the technology to do the right handshake" between the electronic health record operated by Defense and the one operated by VA.

Wicker asked Shinseki if he thought a single electronic health record could meet the requirements of both departments. Shinseki said he could not answer the question at this time, but he reiterated his position that sharing medical information between the two departments was not a technical issue, and had to do instead with leadership.

A spokesman for the Military Health Systems said, "We look forward to working with Secretary Shinseki" on electronic health records.

Shinseki told the hearing that VA's VistA electronic health record system received an informal endorsement from doctors at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington when Shinseki had a checkup there last week. He said he asked two Walter Reed doctors if they were familiar with VA's electronic health record system, and, according to Shinseki, they said, "they thought it was an excellent system, and they wished they had it at Walter Reed."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he expected the full Senate to conform Shinseki on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.

Panetta, Blair complete national security team

Four days after rumors began swirling about Barack Obama's surprise pick of Leon Panetta for CIA director, the buzz has become official.

At a press conference on Friday morning Obama announced the nominations of Panetta, retired Adm. Dennis Blair for National Intelligence director and former CIA official John Brennan -- who withdrew from consideration for CIA director in November after opposition from liberal bloggers -- as White House homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism.

Some Bush administration officials will remain to work with the incoming intelligence team. Current DNI Mike McConnell will offer counsel on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and Michael Leiter will continue as head of the United States National Counterterrorism Center.

Panetta has served as a congressman from California, Office of Management and Budget director, and White House chief of staff to President Clinton, but he has no direct intelligence experience. The unexpected pick has already triggered criticism both in Congress and the media, and will likely generate tough questioning at Panetta's confirmation hearing.

Obama wasted no time pre-emptively defending the pick. After listing Blair's credentials, the president-elect said Blair's experience "will be exceptionally complemented" by Panetta. "Let me be clear," Obama stressed. "In Leon Panetta, the agency will have a director who has my complete trust and substantial clout."

Panetta also received an unequivocal seal of approval from Blair in his remarks. "I couldn't have asked for a better leader for the CIA," Blair said, as he turned to Panetta. "With your background and perspective, the agency is in superb hands."

Panetta, who took to the podium after Blair, stressed the need for a strong intelligence team. "I commit to consulting closely with my former colleagues and the Congress to form the kind of partnership we need to win the war on terror," he said.

Obama Predicts a Florida Victory tonight - WTF !!!!

Obama Predicts a Florida Victory

By JOHN HARWOOD

In the realm of athletics, President-elect Barack Obama has become most closely identified with basketball. But he plainly loves sports of all kinds — and follows the action closely.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Obama predicted that Florida would defeat Oklahoma in tonight’s BCS championship game, especially if its speedy running back Percy Harvin is healthy. But he reiterated his support for a college football playoff system and noted that other schools beyond Florida and Oklahoma can lay claim to being number one no matter who wins tonight.

“I think Utah has a pretty good claim. They’re undefeated,” he said. “I think USC, which had a great Rose Bowl, beat Penn State pretty badly. They’ve got a pretty good claim to being number one. Florida and Oklahoma, I think, both have a claim. Texas, at this point, has got to feel like, ‘Well, we did OK, too.’ I think–I think a football playoff system makes sense. I’ve spoken about this quite a bit, and I think if you look at knowledgeable sports fans, they agree with me.”

Mr. Obama said he’d have his hands full attempting to rescue the American economy. But he has gotten in a little practice in bowling lately on the Nintendo Wii his daughters received for Christmas. Mr. Obama, who famously struggled in bowling during last year’s Democratic primaries, said he performs better in the video game.

U.S. Military Poll Finds Troops Wary About Obama

Six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic about President-elect Obama as their commander in chief

More than half of active-duty U.S. service members feel uncertain or pessimistic about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, according to a Military Times survey.

Six out of 10 Americans in uniform are concerned about Barack Obama's lack of military experience and their perceived difference in his mission and values from that of Pres. Bush.

Much of the reported uncertainty over Barack Obama has to do with his timetable for pulling troops out of Iraq, his ability to lead Americans fighting in Afghanistan and his calls to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the Army Times reported.

"Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers, nobody has confidence in this guy as commander in chief," a lance corporal who asked not to be identified responded to the Times survey.

A higher percentage of respondents responded that Pres. Bush had their best interests at heart more so than Barack Obama.

The findings are results of the sixth annual Military Times survey of subscribers to Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times newspapers. Conducted Dec. 1 through Dec. 8, the survey had more than 1,900 active-duty respondents.

Nearly half of the respondents described their political views as conservative or very conservative, the Army Times reported.

and this from the Obama campaign posted on YouTube on Oct. 22, 2007, to solicit the endorsement of an Iowa based advocacy group "Caucus for Priorities".

Does it give evidence of a plan to disarm the U.S.?

In the clip, Obama pledges to "cut tens of billions of dollars" in defense spending, "cut investments" in missile defense systems and "slow our development of future combat systems."

Obama's Energy Czar member of Socialist Organization

Should we really
be surprised
by this?

Carol Browner, President-elect Barack Obama’s new energy czar, is a member of the Socialist International, perhaps the world’s preeminent socialist organization.

Browner is on the SI’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society

From the Socialist International website:

CAROL M. BROWNER
Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton. Leading the EPA from 1993 to 2001, she was the longest-serving Administrator in the agency’s history. Browner currently serves on the board of several non-profit organisations, including as chair of the National Audubon Society, one of the nation’s oldest environmental organisations, and as a member of the Board of the Directors of the Center for American Progress, the Alliance for Climate Protection and the League of Conservation Voters.

About Socialist International, from its website:
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS for a fairer world

The Socialist International is the worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties. It currently brings together 170 political parties and organisations from all continents

A history of growth and accomplishment

The Socialist International, whose origins go back to the early international organisations of the labour movement, has existed in its present form since 1951, when it was re-established at the Frankfurt Congress. Since then it has been increasingly active and grown considerably in membership, more than doubling the number of its members in recent years. Labour, social democratic and socialist parties are now a major political force in democracies around the world, with numerous member parties of the International leading governments or representing the main opposition force. Over 60 member parties of the International, in over 55 different countries and territories, are currently in government.

Leadership

The supreme decision-making bodies of the International are the Congress, which meets every three to four years, and the Council, which includes all member parties and organisations and which meets twice a year.

George A. Papandreou, President of PASOK, the organisation's member party in Greece, is President of the Socialist International, first elected in January 2006, and re-elected at the XXIII Congress. Luis Ayala (Chile) is the Secretary General, re-elected at the last Congress. The Vice-Presidents, who are also elected by the Congress, together with the President and the Secretary General, make up the Presidium of the International, the leadership of the organisation. Former Presidents and Secretaries General of the organisation

From 1976 to 1992 the late Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of Germany and winner of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize, was President of the Socialist International. Pierre Mauroy, former Prime Minister of France, served as President from 1992 to 1999, and António Guterres, former Prime Minister of Portugal, from 1999 to 2005.

The secretariat of the Socialist International is located in London and coordinates the activities and initiatives of the International, convenes its meetings and conferences, issues statements and press releases and produces its publications.

Global and regional work of the Socialist International

The Socialist International works intensely throughout the year to strengthen and expand social democracy in the world, including through the activities of its thematic and regional Committees, the SI Commission for a Sustainable World Society and the SI Commission on Global Financial Issues.

At the Council of Socialist International held in Mexico on 17-18 November 2008, the International established for this inter-Congress period, in addition to the statutory Ethics Committee and Committee for Finance and Administration, the organisation’s thematic and regional Committees.

Thematic Committees

With the purpose of deepening, broadening and promoting particular areas of global policy, the current thematic Committees of the Socialist International are the Committee on Economic Policy, Labour and National Resources; the Committee on Social Cohesion, Poverty and HIV/AIDS; the Committee on Disarmament; the Committee on Local Authorities; the Committee on Migration; and the Committee on Peace. Each Committee sets a specific programme of activities and meets regularly.

Regional Committees

The regional Committees define and inform the work of the Socialist International with regard to their respective regions, and generate input from their national and regional perspectives to the common global policies of the organisation. The regional Committees of the Socialist International are the Africa Committee; the Committee for Asia and the Pacific; the Committee for the CIS, the Caucasus and the Black Sea; the Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean; the Mediterranean Committee; the Middle East Committee; and the Committee for South Eastern Europe.

Commission for a Sustainable World Society

The SI Commission for a Sustainable World Society was established by the Socialist International to articulate from the world of progressive politics a way forward to address global environmental concerns, climate change and the issues of governance required to deal with these common challenges. The Commission brings together leading personalities, among them serving and former heads of state and government ministers from different continents, to set out recommendations to tackle these fundamental issues, with a particular focus currently on supporting and contributing to the United Nations Climate Change Conferences and the global effort to reduce global warming.

Commission on Global Financial Issues

The SI Commission on Global Financial Issues was established by the Socialist International to address from a social democratic perspective the ongoing global financial crisis. The Commission brings together political leaders, ministers and noted experts from all continents who are working to formulate a global progressive response to the crisis based on the principles of democratic due process and full transparency and consistent with the values of social justice and social solidarity.

Missions and delegations

The Socialist International frequently sends missions and delegations to various countries and regions to help promote peaceful resolutions of conflicts and to support the strengthening of democracy, including through the observation of elections. In recent years such missions and delegations have visited on many occasions the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Financing and budget

The Socialist International is financed by annual affiliation fees from its member parties and its fraternal and associated organisations. The International's budget is decided democratically by all members at its Council meetings. The 2008 Budget totals £1,155,000 (pounds sterling). During 2007 the International registered a total income of £1,094,500 with a total expenditure of £1,058,000, which broke down into £48,000 for communications; £126,000 for administration; £382,000 for the Secretariat; £68,000 for conferences and council meetings; £107,000 for delegations and missions; £123,000 for committees and other meetings, as well as £203,000 for Socialist International Women.

Consultative status with the United Nations

As a non-governmental organisation, the Socialist International has consultative status (Category I) with the United Nations, and works internationally with a large number of other organisations.

Coburn fires salvos over attorney general nomination, January hearing

Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general, faces a tough confirmation process, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans signaled Thursday in announcing they want time to review Holder's record, including his ties to Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he would block Holder's nomination if the confirmation hearing is not rescheduled. "We will not allow a vote to occur until we have thoroughly ... examined the record," Coburn said.

Committee Republicans were signing off on a letter asking Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to delay a Jan. 8 hearing on Holder, escalating a dispute that began this week.

"We are going to insist on having adequate time," Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said during a floor debate on Holder's nomination that the GOP senators triggered Thursday evening.

The senators took the floor to fault Leahy's decision to move quickly with a hearing despite objections from Judiciary ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who wants more time to review 86 boxes of Justice Department materials from Holder's stint as deputy attorney general and other background material.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Republican aides said the lawmakers want more information on reports that Blagojevich in 2004 gave Holder a $300,000 job to provide legal advice to the state on an Illinois casino project. Holder announced he would take the position, then declined when he did not receive total access to documents he wanted, Chicago's WBBM-TV, a CBS affiliate, reported last month."

Mr. Holder played a key role in very controversial matters," Grassley said, citing Holder's involvement in the pardon of financier Marc Rich and others by President Bill Clinton.

Grassley said he told Holder at a meeting Thursday that "the hearing won't be easy."

A Republican aide said Leahy's scheduling the hearing over Specter's objection makes confirmation harder. "Leahy overreached," he said.

A Leahy spokeswoman said the chairman scheduled the hearing only after Specter canceled a planned call to discuss the hearing.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., responding on the floor to the Republicans, suggested the committee is not rushing because Obama picked Holder earlier than incoming presidents customarily do.

The average amount of time from an announcement to confirmation hearing is 29 days, Whitehouse said, noting the Jan. 8 hearing would come 39 days after Obama's announcement.

"The idea that he is being shoved through ... doesn't hold water," Whitehouse said.

In Oklahoma one must produce a birth certificate for unemployment benefits,But...

Hat Tip to my friend Fried Green Onions

In Oklahoma one must produce a birth certificate for unemployment benefits.

In DC the President does not have to and gets to live in Govt Housing.

Gosh...the poor are always held to a higher standard than the rich intelligentsia.

Now tell me again which party is the party of the poor laboring class!

My apologies to the liberal pinko comrades who think they have won the final battle and want us to shut up We not be shutin up!

As long as democrats are around there will be corruption to root out ... it is gonna be a great four years in political innuendo ville.

And you thought Obama and the unicorn thing was a joke

Hat Tip to RightwingSparkle





Dan Lacey, is the artist of “The Barack Obama Victory Unicorn." He sold these to the crowd outside the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul Minnesota at the convention apparently. I suppose if one is riding a unicorn, being naked is imperative.

Oklahomans contributed more than $6 million to 2008 campaigns

Oklahomans contributed more than $6.3 million to 2008 presidential campaigns, according to final Federal Election Commission filings released Friday.

The total triples the previous record, set in the 2004 campaign.

In all, 18 candidates received Oklahoma contributions, ranging from $25 to Republican long shot John Cox to GOP nominee John McCain’s $2.1 million. President-elect Barack Obama is second on the list at $1.7 million.

Republicans outraised Democrats $3.3 million to $3 million.

Of the state total, some $1.7 million came from Tulsa ZIP codes. Oklahoma City ZIP codes accounted for $1.6 million. Suburban Oklahoma City ZIPs, including those for Edmond and Norman, came to $1.2 million.

John McCain, R, $2,058,179

Barack Obama, D, $1,711,189

Hillary Clinton, D, $821,398

Rudy Giuliani, R, $549, 795

John Edwards, D, $341,292

Mike Huckabee, R, $205,217

Ron Paul, R, $172,856

Mitt Romney, R $159,419

Bill Richardson, D, $112,070

Fred Thompson, R, $101,561

Joe Biden, D, $46,659

Tom Tancredo, R, $16,582

Sam Brownback, R, $10,852

Tommy Thompson, R, $9,200

Dennis Kucinich, D, $5,958

Duncan Hunter, R, $5,690

Chris Dodd, D, $1,100

John Cox, R, $25

SecDef stresses nuclear responsibility of U.S. Air Force

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Monday urged Air Force personnel at a troubled military base to step up their care over the installation's nuclear weapons.

He spoke on the day that President-elect Barack Obama announced that Gates would remain in his job when the new administration takes office in January.

"I wanted to tell you in person that, as stewards of America's nuclear arsenal, your work is vital to the security of our nation. Handling nuclear weapons -- the most powerful and destructive instruments in the arsenal of freedom -- is a tremendous responsibility," Gates said in a speech at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

In August 2007, Minot air crews mistakenly loaded six nuclear-armed cruise missiles onto a B-52 bomber that then flew to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. The weapons were not identified as missing for about 36 hours, when Barksdale personnel unloaded the cruise missiles from the bomber.

The mishandling spurred an extensive investigation that ultimately resulted in scores of disciplinary actions and the resignations of the Air Force's top officials.

"The serious lapses of last year were unacceptable, and resulted in severe consequences starting at the unit level and reaching up to the senior leadership of the Air Force," Gates said Monday. "The problems were the result of a long-standing slide in the Service's nuclear stewardship, where this critical mission -- and the career field associated with it -- did not receive the attention, funding, or personnel it deserved."

"We owe you the attention, the people, and the resources you need to do the job right," he added. "For your part, you must never take your duties lightly. There is simply no room for error. Yours is the most sensitive mission in the entire U.S. military."

"Abolishing nuclear weapons once and for all is a worthy long-term goal," he said, but there is a "grim reality that, as long as others have nuclear weapons, we must maintain some level of these weapons ourselves: to deter potential adversaries and to reassure over two dozen allies and partners who rely on our nuclear umbrella for their security -- making it unnecessary for them to develop their own."

How Much Did Voters Learn About the Candidates?

Hat Tip to Brian from RedState

This is shocking, but not surprising:
The video was prepared by John Ziegler, who also commissioned a poll to see what the average voter learned during the 2008 campaign. The result:

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)

82.6% could NOT correctly say that Barack Obama won his first election by getting opponents kicked off the ballot (25% chance by guessing)

88.4% could NOT correctly say that Obama said his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket (25% chance by guessing)

56.1% could NOT correctly say Obama started his political career at the home of two former members of the Weather Underground (25% chance by guessing).

And yet.....

Only 13.7% failed to identify Sarah Palin as the person on which their party spent $150,000 in clothes

Only 6.2% failed to identify Palin as the one with a pregnant teenage daughter

And 86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her "house," even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!

Only 2.4% got at least 11 correct.

Only .5% got all of them correct. (And we "gave" one answer that was technically not Palin, but actually Tina Fey)

Obamas 'Crackberry' habit may have to go

Before he ran for president Barack Obama quit smoking. Now that he's won the job, he may have to break another addiction: Checking his BlackBerry for e-mail.

The president's e-mail can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts and may be subject to public records laws, so if a president doesn't want his e-mail public, he shouldn't e-mail, experts said. And there may be security issues about carrying around trackable cell phones.

Obama transition officials haven't made a decision on what the new president will or will not carry, but those who have been there say it's unlikely he'll carry his BlackBerry and he may be in for some withdrawal pains.

"Definitely he's going to feel an electronic detoxing," said Reed Dickens, former assistant press secretary to President George W. Bush. Dickens jokes that he personally is so addicted to his BlackBerry that he checks his device before opening his right eye.

President-elect Obama has often been seen avidly checking his e-mail on his handheld equipment. This past summer, news cameras recorded him checking his BlackBerry while watching his daughter's soccer game, only to have Michelle Obama slap at his hands, prompting him to return the device to its holster.

Actress Scarlett Johansson said she has had frequent e-mail exchanges with him during his campaign travels, something the Obama campaign downplayed.

"This is a decision President-elect Obama will have to face," said former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan, who added that Obama's legal advisers will probably recommend against an e-mailing president.

"While he has pledged an open and transparent government, I doubt the president-elect is interested in subjecting his own personal communications to that standard," McClellan wrote in an e-mail interview. He added, "He will have to think very hard about whether he wants to make his own words that subject to open records by having his own e-mail and his own BlackBerry."

There is presidential precedent for an e-mail blackout. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton didn't e-mail while in office.

"It's all discoverable; it creates a trail that might end up in congressional investigators' hands," said Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. If you want to delete White House e-mail, you get a stern warning about archiving presidential records, he said.

A few days before Bush took office in 2001, he sent an e-mail to a few dozen close friends saying he would no longer use e-mail: "Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace. This saddens me."

Bush was unhappy about losing his e-mail and mostly used the phone to talk to friends, McClellan wrote, adding, "I am sure the president looks forward to being able to communicate with them via e-mail again come January 20, 2009."

The Bush White House has been battling courts about lapses in e-mail archives at the White House.

Before 2001, Bush was an active e-mailer, but that was before the now ubiquitous BlackBerry with e-mail and text message functions was released in 2002. Users who constantly check their devices often call themselves crackberry addicts. A Canadian government agency asked its workers to live by a "BlackBerry blackout" on nights and weekends "in order to achieve work/life quality here."

"I think Obama is the first president who is addicted to the BlackBerry like the rest of us, and there's a lot of presidential records and archive rules on what gets stored and what doesn't," said former Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart.

Quitting BlackBerry use is not something some political types — such as McClellan — or tech-geeks like thinking about.

Benjamin Nugent, author of the book "American Nerd," said the president-elect is such a techie and has nerd qualities. So cutting off the BlackBerry could be painful: "It'll be interesting if we could see the torment on his face. For me it would be hell."

But it actually could be good for the president-elect, said psychology professor Lawrence Welkowitz of Keene State University in New Hampshire.

"It might be a completely freeing thing for him, so that he can free himself to think and act," said Welkowitz, who doesn't carry a BlackBerry.

But even if Obama isn't packing a BlackBerry or cell phone, he'll have plenty of aides within arm's reach who do, experts said. Often a president uses the equipment of personal assistants.

And there is the chance that Obama may buck the past and keep his BlackBerry tethered to his belt.

"He's the president," McCurry said. "If he wants to carry the BlackBerry, he's entitled."