Movie review. The Knowing.

For this month’s film review, I decided to have a good meal while I watched this film. I had some chicken. A small piece of squid and some popcorn.

As I started to eat the chicken, I was thinking to myself, "Was this a Korean chicken and would he/she be mad that he/she was going to be eaten by an American" or would the chicken be happy that it was going to enjoyed by an American and not eaten by a Japanese person." I then started to think what is a chicken like here in Korea?

Did the chicken go to school for 15 hours a day to learn to cluck and to learn to say that Dokto is Korea. I was wondering did the chickens have posters and drinking pens with the beautiful Dokto Rocks on them?

Then I started to wonder what kind of music did this chicken like. Did it like to work out and cluck with the "Wondergirls" or was the chicken a "Girls Generation" fan and did this chicken and many other chickens, at feeding time, have a clucking contest over which K-Pop Group music was conducive to laying eggs to feed other Koreans.

I then started to eat another piece of the chicken and I was wondering was the chicken upset that I ate a Korean Chicken and I did not eat any mad cow USA meat along with it. I was also wondering did this chicken, and other chickens, last year join the debate and protest over US Beef coming into Korea, I was thinking I hope that this chicken was pro-US Beef because if I had an USA hamburger, I would not be eating this chicken right now and this whole idea would be moot.

As I kept eating this chicken, I kept wondering, should I have soju and kimchi with this chicken? Do Korean chickens like soju and kimchi? Are they given a daily ration of both of Koreans; staples to make the chickens into a better Korean chicken and not into a pro-Japanese chicken?

I then took a look at the piece of squid that I had and I was thinking about it. Did this squid have a family, did this squid know about love and was this squid loved in its life? I then wondered did this piece of squid want to go to Korea or did it want to go to Japan? Did my piece of squid decide to go towards the Korean boat than the Japanese’s boat. Was this squid on its way to Dokto and was at first captured by a Japanese fishing boat and decided that it loved Korea in its heart and escaped for that boat and swam toward a Korean boat, while singing the lasted K-pop song?

I felt sorry for this piece of squid and did not eat it.

I then looked at the popcorn that I had with this meal and I started thinking about this popcorn. Was this popcorn from a Korean Corn Cob or this piece of corn make its way into Korea via a ship and with a 600% tariff attached to it. I was also wondering, with all of the popcorn that we see at movie theaters all over the word, does popcorn like moves and if it does will it taste better at a good movie or does popcorn know, before you do, that the film that you are about to take it to and eat the plain or caramel added popcorn, let out a secret bad taste when you are stuck watching a very bad film. Because as I was watching this film, the popcorn taste seemed to get worse and worse as the film went on.

I then thought that I heard the chicken, which I just had for lunch, turn in my stomach because it had been sacrificed for my lunch while I watched this bad of a film.

Now please remember that in the USA we have a date called April Fools' Day. The day is marked by the setting in motion of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible and to laugh your butt off. The idea of this review was exactly what I was thinking while I saw this film. The lunch story, however sad and misplaced it is, was much better than this film.

Please pass on this film at all cost and think about your next meal and what feelings were involved in it. Once again, I see the crap, so you don't have to.

HAPPY 11TH Birthday Sean Patrick McStay

Once again son, it is your birthday today and once again I have no idea where tyou and your sister are at. I want you both to know that every night you 2 are in my prayers and that i hope you 2 are safe and learning a lot in school.

Hopefully one day I can see you 2 both.

Have a great day.

Love Your Father

Flynn Michael Mcstay

An interesting cartoon for us #88 fans about Jr.

I voted for TO but the better man won

How Korean Nationalism Cost it the WBC Crown

March 24th, 2009 Shinsano

Sure, once it’s over it’s easy to look back at key points in a game and criticize managerial decisions — but since when does it make sense to throw strikes with two outs, runners on second and third with first base open?

Oh yeah, and with one of the greatest hitters in baseball history up at the plate.

Yet, Lim Chang-yong threw eight pitches to Ichiro Suzuki and not one was a wasted pitch. Six of the eight were fastballs, most of which were hovering around 95 mph. The eighth was a splitter down the middle that hung over the plate and was slapped into center for a 2 RBI single to put Japan up by the final 5-3 score.

Hard to fathom any circumstance where not walking Ichiro made any sense. Before Akinori Iwamura took second on catcher’s indifference, announcer Rick Sutcliffe speculated it might not be a great move by Japan to take the open base (Korea wasn’t holding the runner at first) since it would essentially take the bat out of Ichiro’s hands.

To rewind that a little further, the decision to not hold the runner at first is even questionable. Third string first baseman Lee Tae-kuen (an outfielder) was a full 15-20 feet behind the runner. This even caught Japan, who didn’t take it’s free base until the second pitch, off-guard.

This is nothing but boneheaded nationalistic bravado here, folks. This was Kim In-shik attempting to engage Ichiro one-on-one. I would fully take it the other way and say this disrespected Ichiro. After Iwamura took his free base Lim threw a fastball on the outter half of the plate, which Ichiro fouled off. Next pitch, another fastball, again fouled away.

Lim is a very good pitcher, and as opposed to 90% of the right-handed submarine pitchers in the world, he can get left-handed hitters out. Last year, in the NPB Lim surrendered a .264 on base average versus lefties. That mark was 20 points higher versus righties. But Ichiro is no ordinary left-handed batter. He too defies common logic and has a career .387 mark versus LHPs — ten points higher than that against right-handed pitchers.

In the mind of Kim In-shik to walk the reviled Ichiro was to lose face. Even with Hiroyuki Nakajima (hitting .222 for the WBC) on deck, even with first base open and two outs, even with his closer having already thrown over 30 pitches, Kim (since he’s likely calling the pitches from the dugout) came at Ichiro with several more pitches before the eighth was lined into centerfield.

The move ignored basic baseball strategy, and it ignored the kind of hitter that Ichiro has been his entire career. The only thing it didn’t ignore was the history of the Japanese and Korean nations. It cost Korea its chances at the WBC crown.

Comments ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Korean press is reporting that the manager is claiming he indeed ordered a more-or-less intentional walk to Ichiro. Not sure if his story is that this was ignored or misinterpreted by the pitcher. Sounds like b.s. to me.
Probably told the pitcher to “be careful, don’t give him anything good to hit” etc. Which is NOT an intentional walk. For the manager to fob this off on his players is disgraceful.

Rikola // Mar 24, 2009 at 9:41 pm

All in all a good game, I could barely watch, as Korea had a very slight up on Japan. Korea should have come with a victory, but this stupid move by Korea brilliantly instigated by Japan was very indicative of Japan’s manipulative ability to shill.

Now Korean manager has nothing left and wants to blame his own players? Ichiro made a fool out of himself, and now he saves his face. This was brilliant maneuvering of the Korean Manager and Japanese staffed Korean players by Japan.
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I saw it and I could not believe it myself. With an open base they were pitching to Ichiro. IN EXTRA INNINGS. I had a bad feeling that something wrong was going to happen for Korea and when he hit the ball and 2 runs scored. I just could not believe it.

Kim In-shik is the manager of the (Daejeon) Hanwha Eagles Baseball team. He had acquired the nickname "Bernie" by the foreigners here in Daejeon, due to the fact that, at times, he looks dead, like "Bernie" for the 80's "Weekend At Bernies"

Kim In-shik is being ripped apart on "The Marmot's and "Eastwestchronicle" Blogs. I can not believe that he is blaming his pitcher for failing to follow his instructions about walking Ichiro.

I have never understood why everyone here in Korea, swears that Kim In-shik is one of the greatest managers ever. I have been watching the Eagles since 2005 and He has screwed up his pitching every year. HE CAN NOT MANAGE A PITCHING STAFF AND HE WAS ONE OF THE MANAGERS CRYING ABOUT GOING BACK TO THE 12 INNING TIE. I have never seen why he is a good manager. He cost Korea the WBC title.

Well, it has been awhile since I have done any personal blogging. I think that I just wanted to catch up from my vacation and the first month back into the new semester.

I could not believe what a great vacation I had back home. It was nice to see the family and to see my nephews and nieces start to grow up. I still can not believe that Josh has had a girlfriend for 2 years and no one bother to tell me.

I also got to meet my brothers new wife, (this one is #4) I like this one. She has 2 kids and we got along.

Now the trip back to Korea was interesting.

I found out that the printer I had bought at Fry's could have been shipped back to Korea as a 2nd bag. (So the next time, I will do that) I will also try and get the right departure gate. I had the wrong one from AA. But I managed to get to the right gate and checked in ok.

I flew from Dallas-LA-Tokyo-Seoul. I left Denison Texas at 0400 24 Feb 2009 and Arrived back in Daejeon South Korea at 0130 26 Feb 2009. When i hit LA, I found a copy of the LA Times and had a quick dinner at Chilli's. It was nice to have a meal and just to relax for a while.

I was able to get a good sea and flew from LA to Tokyo. Not much really happened here, I could not get to sleep and I was able to cat nap maybe 1 hours sleep and the movies were just not that interesting. So I just listened to the radio and took it easy.

Now I did not have much time in Tokyo Airport, so I had to re-checked thought their customs and went to get a quick bite of food. by the time I was done the plane To Seoul was getting crowded.

Then i caught a break, I had been upgraded to business class. I could not believe it. The chair had a massage button and it really felt good and I re-watched Mamma Mia. I also saw a fellow teacher on the plane and when i yelled her name, she couldn't believe that it was me.

The flight on Business class from Tokyo to Seoul was great. The legroom and a small meal just topped a great fight. I knew that I had to go fast from Incheon to the train station so I took off, I saw the fellow teacher and she had told me that her b/f had bus tickets to Daejeon. (I did not know that their were any late buses back to Daejeon), So I got through customs first and went to her b.f and said, I love you sweetie, thanks for coming to get me." The look on his face was priceless. I told him that she was a few moments behind me. He told me where to get the bus tickets and I was able to leave at 1010.

I actually got about 1 hour sleep on the bus. I took a cab from Dong-Gu bus terminal to my apartment and went to line and emailed my family that I was back in Korea. I got a few hours sleep and it took me a few days to readjust to everything.

The cable TV did an upgrade, I have more channels and I like it.

I went back to the office on Thursday and found my schedule, saw old faces and slowly started up for the new semester.

I have classes on all 5 days now and I have 6 office hours now. I have been made an IDT for the TEI (Tourism English Instruction). I have no idea what they want me to do.

So far the semester is ok, I have the first test ready to go and will give the students there first exam this week.

____________________________________________________________________________________



Now for what else is going on around me here in Daejeon.

Last week, I went to Church near subway stop 108, I like it and I have been back to it. I was hungry and decided to eat at outback in old downtown. I has just started when I saw a familiar face. I yelled, "Brad what are you doing here?" It was the Hanwha Eagles (Korean Baseball Team) reliever that I met last year. He couldn't believe that I was here also.

(Now for the reason I was surprised to see Brad at Outback, Is that Brad is from Australia and Outback is a fake Aussie chain that is somewhat popular in the USA. I have known a few Aussie that actually hate it and will never set foot in it. I was surprised to see an Aussie in a fake Aussie Place."

We talked awhile about baseball and the WBC.

I told him that the WBC was intresting this reason for me, I know you and you were pitching for the Australia team, I have seen 23 out of the 25 players on Korea team play at Hanabat Stadium (Where the Hanwha Eagles Play). I am an American, So I will cheer for the USA team.

I have been to a few games and so far and the spring training games have been ok. I have faith in the Eagles but Lotte and SK look good.

____________________________________________________________________

Well this is just a short upddate on whats going on here in Korea.

John Wayne’s Six Masterpieces

by John Nolte

In yesterday’s post about the third most popular movie star in America today, I referenced 6 John Wayne masterpieces and 12 classics. A few emails resulted asking which films that referred to, so here are the masterpieces ranked in order of masterpiecery.

These films don’t need anyone to defend them and thousands upon thousands of words have already been written about them. What you have here is a few paragraphs about each that focuses on what keeps me coming back time and again.

For the record, “The Searchers,” in my opinion, is the greatest movie ever made and though I don’t think John Wayne is our greatest actor (though, he’s in the top five), I do think his performance as Ethan Edwards is the finest ever captured on film.

–

The Searchers (1956) - Director John Ford

Alcohol is the choice of most men, but Ethan Edwards (Wayne) chose vengeance and hate to drown his love for a woman he couldn’t have.

If you want to understand what drove Edwards, both before and after the massacre of his family, watch the first act again closely and you’ll see that he was desperately in love with his brother’s wife and she with him. This love between them is so pure that to act on it, to even speak of it, would betray it and so this fragile thing remains preserved through silence and dignity.

After she’s raped and butchered and his two young nieces kidnapped by the Apache Chief Scar, Ethan rages against God (”Get to the Amen!”) and sets out to find the girls. He might be able to save their lives but nothing can remove the indignities they’ve already suffered, and through their very presence they will forever remind him of what was done to his beloved … and that is too unbearable to imagine. For this reason, Ethan will kill the girls and hope that through committing such an unspeakable act his years-long quest to lose his pain through the surrender of his humanity will finally come to an end.

The Indians do half of Ethan’s job for him, leaving only Debbie, the youngest. Years pass and a relentless hunt that will come down to a single moment finally does when Debbie finds herself in Ethan’s grip. The ferocity to tear her in two has always been there, but does he have the will?

“Let’s go home, Debbie.”

The type of man required to rescue Debbie, these men who sacrificed much to build a civilization, aren’t welcome in it. There’s no place for them, and Ethan doesn’t enter the house because he understands this. Instead he turns and walks away, and the door closes leaving him outside with the pain and loneliness he will now carry forever due to his own sacrifice - the choice to retain his humanity.

–

2. Stagecoach (1939) - Director John Ford

After nearly a decade of making quickie Westerns, director John Ford pulled Wayne out of poverty row, and in one breathtaking close-up, so dramatic the focus just barely hangs on, made him a star.

Actually, that’s a lie. The close-up didn’t make Wayne a star, nor did the action, the fights, the gunplay, or even legendary stuntman Yakima Canutt standing in for young Duke as he leaps into the middle of runaway horses to save the day and stop an out of control stagecoach.

What made Wayne a star were his quiet moments with Claire Trevor. No one on the stagecoach will talk to Dallas. They refuse to even eat with her, but the Ringo Kid (Wayne) doesn’t know about her past (or, does he?), and therefore doesn’t know not to treat her like a lady.

The kindness and tenderness Wayne summons to play these scenes, the decency he mines from Ringo’s innocence, the simplicity and quietness of it all … these moments are as touching as anything Chaplin or Keaton ever gave us.

–

3. Red River (1948) - Director Howard Hawks

“Let’s take ‘em to Missouri.”

Wayne plays Tom Dunson, another hardened man driven to obsession. What’s remarkable about Wayne’s performance is how his presence looms even larger in the second half during the long periods he’s off screen. Wayne turns his character into a bona fide bogey man, utterly believable in a murderous, near-psychotic rage he’s determined to satisfy. Every time the men look over their shoulders, we do too fearing what’s hidden by the night.

As good as Wayne is, the smartest decision Hawks made was casting the immortal Montgomery Clift as Matt, Dunson’s surrogate son. This was not a film Wayne could carry into legend on his own, and a Jeffrey Hunter just wouldn’t have been up to it. The role required an actor with Wayne’s talent and screen presence, but of a different kind, and Clift’s magnetic and unique mix of beauty and masculinity was perfect.

“Red River” has a flaw, a deus ex machina in the form of the lovely Joanna Dru, but the rest is 130 minutes of epic perfection all set to the real star of the film, Dimitri Tiomkin’s unforgettable score.

–

4. The Quiet Man (1952) - Director John Ford

Ford had hoped to make this in 1947 after completing his religious mood piece, “The Fugitive,” with Henry Fonda. Unfortunately for him, “The Fugitive” flopped and Ford was forced to pay some bills before being allowed another passion project. Fortunately for us, what came of those five years of bill paying was Ford’s epic cavalry trilogy and a John Wayne, who at 45, was much better suited for the role of Sean Thornton, a haunted ex-prize fighter looking for the a quiet life in Ireland.

Enter the ravishing Maureen O’Hara as Mary Kate.

Like Monty Clift, the casting of Maureen O’Hara was as essential as Duke himself. Other than Patricia Neal, Gail Russell, Geraldine Page, Lauren Bacall and Angie Dickinson, Wayne tended to overpower his leading ladies, which was generally okay because they were subplot material. But in “The Quiet Man” war and Indians aren’t what motivates the action, it’s Sean’s overpowering passion for, and inability to dominate, a stubborn, smart, independent, proud and breathtakingly beautiful Irish girl.

Wayne co-starred with a number of wonderful actresses, including those listed above, but O’Hara was to Wayne what Olivia de Havilland was to Errol Flynn: every inch his equal. This wasn’t their first film together, but it was their first in color and O’Hara was unsurpassed in color.

Ford’s love of Ireland frames every shot and fills every character. His passion for his native land is only matched by Sean’s passion for Mary Kate and hers for him. There’s more sex in “The Quiet Man” than anything you’ll see on Cinemax After Dark, but the physical desire manifests only in the eyes of the players and the subtext of the dialogue, making it one of the sexiest movies ever made.

–

5. Rio Bravo (1959) — Director Howard Hawks

Everyone in town wants to help Sheriff John T. Chance (Wayne) guard his prisoner from a ruthless gang determined to kill those who get in the way of a jailbreak, and by “everyone” I mean innkeepers, old men, cow punchers and a lovely girl with a past and a thing for feathers. Howard Hawks and Wayne loathed “High Noon’s” (1952) depiction of a “cowardly” Sheriff begging those he’s charged with protecting for help. The response was “Rio Bravo,” a film where the Sheriff turns all but the most capable away:

If they are really good, I’ll take them. If not, I’ll just take care of them.

You won’t find John Chance begging a church full of farmers to do his job for him.

But “Rio Bravo” is not a John Wayne film, it’s a Howard Hawks film with just a logline for a plot wrapped in characters we can’t get enough of, even after 141 minutes. This is a Howard Hawks film because it’s about men of action and duty and bravery - and more importantly, the relationship between all three. It’s a Howard Hawks film because after the credits roll we don’t long for the gunfights and explosions, we just want to be locked in that jail again with Stumpy, Colorado, Chance and Borachon for one more song.

–

6. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) — Director John Ford

This is the second of Ford’s masterful cavalry trilogy, the best of the three, and the only one filmed in color.

Like 1948’s “Red River,” Wayne convincingly plays an older man here, Captain Nathan Brittles, a thirty-year man in the United States Cavalry on the verge of retirement.

Brittles is a widower counting down the few days (he marks them off a calendar) he has left before facing a world without a place for him. He will soon be sentenced to a life without purpose and without the family that is the Cavalry. Because Ford and his players are so effective at making us fall in love with the life, not one syllable of exposition is needed to explain what Brittles feels. We’re going miss to Sgt. Quincannon’s (Victor McLaglen) Captain Darlin’s every bit as much as he is.

Duty, tradition, and mortality are all themes beautifully explored through larger-than-life characters and Ford’s unique ability to capture the unparalleled majesty of Monument Valley, Utah - a setting as integral to the drama as the story itself. A scene supposedly shot on the fly in the heart of the Valley during a thunder and lightning storm ranks right along with an Ingrid Bergman close up as one of the most beautiful images ever captured on film.

UPDATE: The twelve not quite masterpieces, but still classics (in no particular order): 3 Godfathers, The Shootist, Long Voyage Home, Shepherd of the Hills, They Were Expendable, Angel and the Badman, Wake of the Red Witch, The Sands of Iwo Jima, Hondo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, True Grit, El Dorado…

Because Wayne didn’t star in “How the West Was Won” or “The Longest Day,” they weren’t considered

ANOTHER UPDATE FROM STEPHANIE WHITE......

After the Feb 12 court session (first & only one so far) the judge sided in our favor on 3 requests.

1) a couple of sauna employees must now submit to questioning by my/Mike's lawyer

2) we receive color photos of the autopsy & sauna pools as opposed to the black and white xerox photos we have now... most are just black squares on a page.

3) we get to tour the sauna room, because there's discrepancy in the police report about the logistics and order of events. The statements from different sauna employees don't match.


Under labor laws, the employer has certain responsibilities concerning our visa status, ie representing us to the police, allowing us to go to court, etc. The labor board has made a determination in my case and the visa responsibilities only apply to me, not my dependent.

Because the events surrounding my son's change in visa status (from breathing to not breathing) do not impair my ability to teach, the employer don't have to do jack shit, in fact they can deny me the right to go to court.

Yeungnam Uni. hasn't taken this last step, but it was threatened during a meeting with my supervisor on Tuesday.

Happy Days eh?

http://MightieMike. com

Red, white and blue, through and through

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The flag traveled around the world and through the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq. Sgt. Felix Perez brought it from home as a reminder and an amulet. The flag never left his Army backpack.

It accompanied Perez to Dolphin Stadium on Tuesday night. He needed some luck for his team, the United States, in its must-win World Baseball Classic game against Puerto Rico. Perez wore a Team USA hat and a Team USA hoodie, and his little sister, Jessica, draped his flag across her shoulders. The United States’ 6-5 come-from-behind victory in the ninth inning sent them into a frenzy. She danced around. He sat in his motorized wheelchair and roared.

On the way out, the 27-year-old Perez placed the flag in his lap and leaned over to a security guard manning Gate G. He was hoping some players from Team USA might sign it. The security guard led Perez and his sister to the U.S. clubhouse, and the flag went inside.

“The next thing I know,” Perez said, “I’m getting called to come back in there.”

And so began the coolest 30 minutes of Felix Perez’s life. On an evening when he felt especially proud to be an American – when a group of his sporting heroes wearing his country’s name across their chests banded together to win a game they had no business winning – Perez found himself surrounded by them, doused with celebratory Miller Lites, with the American flag that was with him during the worst moment of his life passed around the room and signed by every player on the team.

“Everybody,” Perez said.

Then they handed him a ball filled with signatures.

“Everybody,” Perez said.

The half-hour went too fast. Jimmy Rollins, who scored the winning run, wanted to chat more. David Wright, who drove it in, couldn’t hear enough about how the New York Mets are Perez’s favorite team. Almost half the team surrounded Perez for a photograph, the flag draped around his torso, a smile on every face, and none brighter than his.

“I’m just happy to see him happy,” Jessica said.

It’s been four years since Perez returned from the Middle East, where he spent four years. He enlisted after his 17th birthday and was in Afghanistan by the time he turned 20. He doesn’t like to talk about his injury. Some wounds don’t heal.

Perez played ball growing up in North Bergen, N.J., and still loves watching the sport. He attended Team USA’s first WBC game here, an 11-1 mercy-rule loss to Puerto Rico. When the Americans beat the Netherlands to stay alive, Perez woke up at 9 the next morning, called the box office and bought three tickets.

The stadium, practically empty at first pitch, filled to 13,224 by game’s end. It deserved more eyes. Puerto Rico scored in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie and tacked on an insurance run in the ninth for a two-run lead. The Americans, about to get bumped from the second straight WBC before the semifinals, needed something divine. Shane Victorino singled to right field. Brian Roberts singled to center. And then Roberts, who had joined Team USA just two days earlier to replace the injured Dustin Pedroia, stole second base – even though coaches laid down the hold sign. Roberts hadn’t quite learned the signs yet.

A walk to Rollins, and another to Kevin Youkilis, and the U.S. had cut the deficit to one run. Wright laced a 2-1 pitch from Fernando Cabrera down the right-field line, and out charged all of Team USA, from the bench and the bullpen, in a bull rush to home plate, then to greet Wright. His teammates kept pushing Wright, joyous and unbridled shoves, until he fell down and they buried his face in the dirt.

“I never thought that we’d be dog piling in March,” Wright said.

No one did. The malaise that clouded the previous games involving Team USA seemed infectious. For every Felix Perez, there were dozens, sometimes hundreds, of fans rooting for the opposing team. Every WBC game thus far, even the ones in Florida, felt like it was on the road.

Not even that dampened the Americans’ enthusiasm. They play Venezuela on Wednesday to determine seeding in Los Angeles, where they’ll face either Korea or the winner of Wednesday’s Japan-Cuba knockout game – and perhaps with a few more supporters who can appreciate what Team USA accomplished Tuesday.

“That was the greatest game I’ve ever been a part of,” catcher Brian McCann said. “Ever.”

Same went for Perez. He said he would rather Team USA win the WBC than the Mets win a World Series.

“We’re the U.S.,” Perez said. “This is our game. … This is the world. You’re representing your country. What is more honorable than representing your country?”

Team USA’s manager, Davey Johnson, grew up an Army brat, his father a prisoner-of-war in World War II.

“There is nothing more honorable,” he said.

Wright was raised near Naval Station Norfolk, one of the largest military bases in the country.

“When you see those guys and get a chance to see how much it means to them, that makes it extra special,” he said. “They take a lot of pride in that red, white and blue, and to have USA across your chest and have supporters like that – that’s what this tournament means.”

Outside the clubhouse, Perez started moving toward the stadium exit. His dad, Felix, had called. He was wondering where Perez and Jessica had gone. They were headed back to the car, Jessica said. They had a pretty amazing souvenir.

A minute later, Rollins walked by and spotted Perez.

“All right, baby,” he said. “Keep a smile on your face.”

“Hey,” Perez said, “as long as you keep swinging the bat, I’ll be happy.”

Perez lifted his right arm as high as he could to wave goodbye. He wasn’t sure he’d see these guys again. He said he might fly to Los Angeles for the finals. He doesn’t know.

Perez moved his hands onto the flag. It’s a struggle, but he wanted to touch his prize. He plans on hanging it next to his other American flag, the one his friends in the 82nd Airborne sent to him when he was injured.

The old flag’s traveling days are over. Sgt. Felix Perez brought it to his home Tuesday night as a reminder and an amulet. The flag never will leave his heart.

A few weeks ago, I came out with my best films of the year’s list and I had "Slumdog Millionaire" at #8. Here is what I said about the film.

............."At the time of this writing this film has received 10 Academy Awards nominations, including the nominations for Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Achievement in Directing for Danny Boyle. I really had no idea about this film until I sat down and watched the film. It is basically a poor man going on India’s version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire” and with every question, you are shown how, this man, knew the exact answer. I saw the film once and then rewatched it a few days later, just to make sure that I had really seen all of what this film has to offer. A great love story and what a journey this man takes to his final answer to see if he can become a millionaire."

Well, we know what has happened to the film since I wrote this. The film went on to win 8 Academy Awards, to include:

1. Best Picture, Christian Colson
2. Best Director, Danny Boyle
3. Best Adapted Screenplay, Simon Beaufoy
4. Best Cinematography , Anthony Dod Mantle
5. Best Original Score, A. R. Rahman
6. Best Original Song - Jai Ho, A. R. Rahman
7. Best Film Editing, Chris Dickens
8. Best Sound Mixing, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pyke and Ian Tapp

The plot of this film is very simple, A Mumbai teen that grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers. The film takes you from his childhood to the present day and you see how he knew each of the answers that he had been accused of cheating.

I really did not know what to make of this film before I watched it. All that I really knew about it was that it had received some good reviews and that it was making a lot of people mad about the way that it was showing Mumbai, India. I saw the film twice before I really told anyone about it. I wanted to make sure that I had really seen all of the different paths that this film will take you on.

To be honest, this is a very good film but I would not call it a great one. I certainly would not have nominated this film to the academy for a "Best Picture". I loved the film plots and subplots and thought that the script was great. It is a light fantasy film and a lot of people seem to be forgetting that. Do not let the negative reviews of this film deter you from watching this film. This film deserves a viewing when it arrives in Korea in March 2009.

Even with my small criticism of the film, my grade for this film is an "A". Once Again, "I see the crap, so you don't have to"

AN UPDATE FROM STEPHANIE WHITE ABOUT HER SON, MIKE'S DEATH. I STILL HAVE NO WORDS TO ADD TO THIS.LET KEEP HER IN OUR PRAYERS.

Note


Grieving in South Korea or West Meets East on issue of "pay offs" & "hush money"

I think by now I've been insulted on every level imaginable concerning my son's rite of passage into death. Setting aside the incredible loss of love, talent, humor and compassion when my son was murdered, there is still much for Korea to insult.

Part of it I logically realize is their own dysfunctionality in relating to or understanding anything outside their kimchi box. Still, I"m quite tired of ALWAYS having to be mindful of THEIR cultural ways and to avoid THEM loosing face. I was not hired to come to Korea to learn Korean or to embrace the Korean culture. I"m here for the cash, always was, always will be. It was my son who loved Korea. And look where that got him. Of course, I learned the mandatory kimchi cheers and how to quickly evade attempts at "friendships" for free English lessons. Overall, I see our time here as being in economic exile. Had I been able to earn this much back home, I'd have bought my son an online subscription to Rosetta so he can impress his girlfriends' Korean mother instead of actually coming here.

Still, we came, we saw, and he was murdered. But not end of story. Today, on the 10th month anniversary of his death, I want to share with you the events following, and perhaps you'll understand why I feel so insulted.

My son was murdered on a Saturday night, during the big buddha birthday weekend. We had Monday off that year. It was also the day before Mother's Day in our culture. Yes, how much better could it get then to murder a child the eve before Mothers' Day. Not only was the timing horrid (as if the murder of a child ever could be anything but horrid) but to add insult, the establishment was busy, crowded, packed and no one helped. Thanks Korea, it's something I'll never forget.

In the ambulance, My friend had used my cellphone to call a Korean "friend", the only one who answered the phone at midnight was my new office mate, I'll call her "gangsta gal". My son & I met Gangsta Gal when she was hired by my University. We were quite shocked because she is covered with tattoos. I've been to jimjilbang with her, she is literally covered. She is Korean, but lived in the USA for 30 years.

She even has two teardots under her right eye, done in prison blue and solid in color. If you want to know what gang tattoos mean, google "teardrop" tattoo. If you wear a gang tattoo or wear one of their "rank" tattoos without being a member, you risk death or at the very least, having it cut off. So, I figure she has a right to those tattoos considering her age and the fading of the tattoos, she has earned them. Lovely eh? But she came along right away to the ER.

At the ER, as my friend & I tried desperately to save my son's life, giving him CPR when the doc quit after less than 5 minutes, we continued for an hour & half. Begging the doc to either take extreme measures or to transport him to a hospital that could. Both of us have "first responder" training because we are mothers and we work with youth. We watched the monitors to make sure the oxygen level was good, ensuring my son's brain was still functioning.

We of course asked & expected Gangsta Gal to translate my wishes & to explain we did have insurance & I gave my credit cards... anything -- just do the aspiration & heart massage.

In hindsight, I seriously doubt gangsta gal even bothered to translate. She did not implore the doctors nor did her behavior in anyway suggest she was trying to convince them to try. In fact, she barely spoke. But she did manage to get the phone numbers of the sauna manager.

The next day, Mother's Day, she tried to bring "someone from the sauna" into my apt. This "cultural aspect" of Korea wouldn't be explained to me until months later. It seems when there has been what we could call anything but pre-mediated murder, any problems with the police or social tsk tsk would all go away with an apology and 50 million won. The person who arranges the apology gets between 10-20% commission for their trouble. A deposit on the commission is usually paid before they attempt to talk to the victims family to settle.

They never darkened my apt door. How dare they on the day after and on Mother's day come to my home where my son's things are still scattered about the apt. and offer me hush money. If this had happened back home, I would have been expected to at least shoot at them, or at the very least the tires on their car.

From my viewpoint, this was the worst thing they could have done to me and a great dishonor to my son. By that friday, May 16th, I was approached by a lawyer offering his services probono. Actually all he wanted was that commission. He offered "enough to cover funeral costs" up front, and AFTER I went home, I could pick out a house worth up to 200.000.00 US$ (200 grand) and it would be bought for me. Yea right. I was also told that if I insisted upon pursuing criminal charges, the court would only award me MAYBE 5 million won. Can you imagine the shock when I choose criminal proceedings.~!! He couldn't get me outta his office fast enough. And that was the last I saw of that particular Korean "friend" who set up the meeting with the lawyer.

Hello people, my son is DEAD as in no more playing ball, no more eating my lasagna & telling me it's monkey food (family joke) he is DEAD as in his body is here no more. I don't see where a little jail time for the murderers should be a big deal... at least they are not DEAD. Without justice, this will never be OK ~ even with justice it's still gut wrenchingly wrong.

Emotionally manipulating me in attempts to make me shut up & go away will only backfire. Yes, the emotional manipulations hurt... but Korea forgets, they have already hurt me in a way that can not be topped. I have no fear anymore..the only thing I ever feared has happened...now ... well now is a whole new ballgame.

before the next week had turned the corner, I used the last of my own money to hire a real lawyer. This put me dependent upon the contributions from the expat community for my son's remains. It sucked but I put my pride in my pocket and set about my fight for justice.

But Gangsta Gal wasn't finished, she was busy sending out emails to my co-workers, getting fundraisers canceled and trying to get me fired from my job. She even arranged for the donations given by my co-workers to be earmarked for "body only". It seems no one wanted me to hire a lawyer. But HA HA, one had already been hired by then.

Next came the way I must keep my personal pain & grief from offending the other faculty. Of course we all know how to "put on the happy face" when we go into the classroom on a bad day... but I have that pressure to "perform" all the time. Literally, since I live in the neighborhood with most of my co-workers. Now expats are great backstabbers and I wouldn't put it past about a dozen of them to do so,...but we all know who is REALLY offended by my grief... the Korean staff. I make them uncomfortable... guess I'm a reminder that bad things do happen in Korea and bad things are done by Koreans. Well, just think, had the police done their jobs and this had been handled by the criminal courts as it should have been, I wouldn't' be here bitching about it now.

And then there is the day of cremation.

The building in Seoul is built with high ceilings and lots of stone tile everywhere...make for a great echo with Iggooo & all. The place in Seoul is set up like an assembly line, there were about 20 chambers with viewing rooms and families were making processions in & out nearly every 30 minutes.

Despite all that bottled up emotion saved for the crematorium, plenty of folks still had time to go INTO the MY wailing room with me and stare at me as my son was being cremated. It go so bad the assistant from the mortuary company handling Mike's remains had to stand guard at the door to keep folks out. even then they stood at the door.

I'd have been cool with it had folks given me a small gesture (like pat on arm, hug...etc) or said something nice in a soothing tone, instead of just staring & make comments with their friends.

by the way, I had to go alone ~ my friends were working (their directors thinking my 'grief" had gone on long enough) & the support groups had faded by then - there was no one except the assistant from the mortuary and the crowd of onlookers at the McCrematorium. But I got an awesome souvenir to take home from Korea, my son in a box.

I got no plans anymore... I got plenty of time to ride this one on out... gives me time to think of the 'nice touches' I can add of my own. And if you feel the sting of my venom, imagine what my son has to say about this.

Movie Review. The Watchmen



Before the review starts, I need to say that I have not read the comic book that this film is based upon. So I have no idea if its the same as the book. In the past, When I have read the book first then seen the film, I have usually hated the film and I did want any ideas about this film clouded with the book. I have seen this film twice now as I am writing this review, with one of the times being at an Imax. I must say now that this film is so much better at the Imax. It was stated that, all of the USA's IMAX showings were reportedly sold out.

Have you ever seen a film and afterwords, you have no real idea how to explain it to any of your friends? This was my problem with the film after the first showing. I was not a "fanboy" of this series, so I couldn't openly praise it for being the first true adaption nor could I condemn it for not being like the comic book, since I had not read the book.

It took me watching this film at the IMAX before I finally did understand what I was watching and was able to explain it to try and write this review.

The film is basically a murder mystery set under an alternative 1985 reality in which the USA and the USSR are a few steps away from unleashing World War 3.

The film opens with the murder of one of the Watchmen, Edward Blake / The Comedian and you are left to wonder why this happened. The film then really takes off with the introduction of Walter Kovacs / Rorschach . He is also a Watchmen, but unlike the others in this group, Rorschach has continued his one-man battle against crime long after superheroes have become both detested and illegal. Rorschach’s actions and writings display a belief in a moral absolutism and objectivism, where good and evil are clearly defined and evil must be violently punished. He has alienated himself from the rest of society to achieve these aims.

He then goes to his old partners house Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl II to tell him of the Comedian's death and to warn him of other attacks on the Watchmen.

He then goes to try and warn Dr. Jon Osterman / Doctor Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk / Silk Spectre II but is basically thrown out of their place because they do not believe him. The the film continues with a fear of war and the hope of a free energy source that may stop all war in the future. I will leave the rest of the plot to the audience as not to spoil the film for anyone who has not seen it nor read the book.

What I really liked about this film was the music and how it was used exactly for the scene. I was laughing when certain songs were being played because of their subtle use in the film and after the film was over, I told the people who saw the film with me, why I was laughing at the music.

Another thing I liked about the film was the partnership of Nite Owl II and Rorschach. I saw in the film that they had been partners and I soon realized that the film had captured it quite well and made the film more believable for me. The film was made for me during the scene where Rorschach describes the moment when he stopped being "Kovacs pretending to be Rorschach", and fully became Rorschach. To me, this was the scene that made a good film into a great one.

My advice for this film is this, please remember that the film was set up in an alternative 1985 that did not happen but in this world what you see was reality. A lot of reviews that I had read seem to be stuck on this point and it makes no sense for me. The film is just a movie, no more and no less. Please see it when you can and, if the opportunity comes your way, please see the film in IMAX.

Grade: A

Rorschach: [reading from journal] Rorschach's Journal: October 12th 1985. Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!' And I'll whisper 'no'.

Opened in South Korea on 5 March 2009

By Bill on March 7th, 2009 at at 4:01 pm

Life created after one is lost

Michael Harvey III sleeps peacefully under his father’s memorial, Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr.,

Mikey and his mother arrived in Tennessee last week. The article that accompanied the above photo is below..

CAMP SCHWAB, Okinawa (March 6, 2009) — Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr. was always surrounded by family. He was close to his mother, father, brother and sister who live in Knoxville, Tenn.

He was starting his own family with his wife Hotaru Ferschke in Okinawa. Together they had one son, Michael Harvey III. He was also surrounded by his Marine Corps family, even in death as he saved them by drawing enemy fire onto himself while they cleared a house in Anbar Province, Iraq, Aug. 10.

On Feb. 20, Ferschke’s family came together for a memorial service at the Camp Schwab Chapel to honor their son, brother, husband, father and friend.

People filled every pew and the walls were lined with Marines.

Ferschke’s memorial service showcased the camaraderie of 3rd Marine Division’s 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. The unit cohesion Ferschke shared with his Marines in life, was evident in his death.

“The reason Reconnaissance Marines have such a strong brotherhood is the time and adversity they share,” said 1st Sgt. Allan Castellanos, the company first sergeant for Company A, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. “With these Marines, it’s never above or below, it’s always right next to.”

Ferschke never felt the need to boast about being in a reconnaissance unit to feel unique, Castellanos said. It was enough satisfaction for him to do his job efficiently and effectively.

Ferschke viewed his first sergeant as a guidance counselor and fostered a trusting bond during the course of their year-long relationship.

“We never had a leader - subordinate relationship. I was his mentor,” said Castellanos, who went on to say he will always remember Ferschke as a funny guy to be around.

Ferschke’s biological family, who made their way from Tennessee, were also in attendance.

Ferschke’s mother, dressed in a black pantsuit, and his father in a gray sport coat and black slacks, stood out in a sea of green camouflage utilities. But they shared a common bond with the Marines. They all loved Ferschke. At times, some of them could not hold back the tears.

However, his family and his fellow Marines also shared in a few laughs. Some of the Marines in attendance recounted memories of their experiences with Ferschke that brought out chuckles from Ferschke’s mother, and father, who the recon Marines affectionately nicknamed - “Momma” and “Papa” Ferschke.

“The help Marines give us fills the hole in our hearts,” said Robin Ferschke, Michael’s mother.

Ferschke’s wife Hotaru and infant son Michael Harvey III attended the memoriam. Michael slept and Hotaru was stoic as the Marines honored their comrade and friend.

The Marine Corps first brought Ferschke and Hotaru together on Okinawa.

During their courtship the two made plans to marry after Ferschke returned from a deployment to Iraq.

During the deployment, the couple discovered they were going to become parents.

They were married in a proxy ceremony in early July, and Hotaru gave birth to Michael in early January.

During the memorial service, and at the lunch afterward, Marines showed their soft sides by taking turns looking after their fellow Marine’s son.

At the end of the ceremony, every Marine in the chapel formed a single file line behind the Ferschke family to take a knee in front of the traditional military memorial of an inverted rifle with bayonet attached, a pair of combat boots at the position of attention, a set of dog tags hanging from the rifle’s hand grip and a helmet resting on the rifle’s butt stock; a symbol most commonly known as a battlefield cross.

It is also symbolic of the respect for a brother, son, husband and Marine who gave his life for them.

Baby Michael slept throughout the ceremony. He slept through the memoriam and the luncheon that followed.

Robin noticed this as both she and Hotaru watched Michael sleeping in his carrier.

“He sleeps just like his father,” Robin said.

Hotaru let out a giggle.

PRO BASEBALL

For Jerry Royster, success in Korea needs no translation

Email Picture

Lotte Giants

How popular is Lotte Giants Manager Jerry Royster in South Korea -- 20,000 fans once showed up to watch him tape a commercial in which he spoke Korean.

The ex-Dodger is treated like a rock star in Busan, South Korea, after taking the popular Lotte Giants to the playoffs in his first season as manager. But arguing with umps can be just plain weird.

By John M. Glionna
March 3, 2009

Reporting from Busan, South Korea -- Jerry Royster isn't sure whether to laugh or cry: The umps just don't speak his language. Every time he races out of the dugout to argue a play, he has to bring along an interpreter.

Last year, the former Dodgers infielder took the helm of this city's wildly popular Lotte Giants, becoming Korea's first foreign manager. From opening day, he was a stranger in a strange baseball land. Although the South Koreans pitched, hit and threw just like back home, most everything else was lost in translation.

In this league, umpires apologize for unpopular calls. Some change their minds as a gesture of politeness.

And the fans -- they'd never think of booing or heckling. Instead, they spend their energy belting out special songs for their hometown heroes. Many don orange garbage bags as Korean-style rally caps.

At the Giants' 2008 home opener, fans packed the stadium four hours before game time to revel in every warmup throw. They quickly elevated Royster to rock-star status -- about 20,000 once showed up, not for a game, but to watch him tape a commercial in which he spoke Korean.

And forget hot dogs and popcorn. These fans crave a different variety of snacks to go with their ballpark beers: dried squid or live octopus, anyone?

Royster, 56, loves every minute. After playing for five major league teams over 16 seasons, nine of them with the Atlanta Braves, and after managing the Milwaukee Brewers, he is sure of this: Koreans are more baseball-crazy than Americans.

"Lotte Giants fans are Yankees, Red Sox the Cubs fans all in one," he said. "They're more passionate than any major league team could ever dream of."

As the 2009 World Baseball Classic opens this week with games in Tokyo, Mexico City, Toronto and San Juan, Puerto Rico -- the final will be at Dodger Stadium -- the Korean national team plans to continue its winning ways.

And that, Royster said, requires no translation.

In his first year, he took the cellar-dwelling Giants to the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Even with a shorter 126-game schedule, the Giants attracted more fans than many major league teams and doubled attendance from the year before.

Long-suffering loyalists dubbed their new manager "Hurricane Royster" and composed a rally song in his honor.

But Royster, now in his second season, said it's not just fans who excite him: Koreans play good baseball.

Korean players' ability is well-known -- except in the U.S., where only a few, such as former Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park, are household names.

But that is changing. Korea won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics without losing a game, and in the 2006 WBC lost only once -- to archrival Japan in the final. Only Cuba was ranked ahead of Korea in the International Baseball Federation's world rankings.

"We're not a secret to most countries," Royster said. "It's only the Americans who are now starting to realize there's good baseball being played here." Royster didn't know what to expect in late 2007 when old friend Bobby Valentine, manager of Japan's Chiba Lotte Marines, called him.

Shin Dong-bin, owner of the Lotte teams in Japan and Korea, wanted to shake things up by putting a foreign manager in the southern city of Busan. Valentine recommended Royster, who'd just been fired as manager of the Las Vegas 51s, then the Dodgers' triple-A team.

"I told him he was going to take over the Cubs of Asia," said Valentine, a former Dodger who once managed the New York Mets. "They were a blue-collar team that never won but everybody loved anyway. The fans were dying for a competitive team and a leader."

Royster's adjustment was swift. Arriving in Seoul baggy-eyed from the 12-hour flight, he was swamped by reporters. Only after an impromptu news conference was he able to catch his connecting flight.

The president of the country, Lee Myung-bak, wanted to meet him and so, it seemed, did everyone else. He had to switch to an unlisted number and get a full-time escort to help him wade through the crowds -- even in the lobby of his apartment building.

When Royster finally saw his new team, he gulped.

"They didn't play the game very well," he said. "The owner said, 'Don't expect to win, just do your best and maybe things will improve.' "

Royster's message to his players was simple: Relax, have fun and play ball. In a league where managers are often imperious, he was a cheerleader.

"Our players had gotten so used to being lousy, many had given up," team spokesman Kim Geon-tae said. "He told them 'You're a professional ballplayer.' He won the hearts of players and fans."

When a Giant homered or made an inning-ending defensive play, Royster was often first to greet him on the dugout steps with a high-five.

"It was unseen here, a manager who was one of the guys," said Aaron Shinsano, a scout for the Chicago Cubs and co-founder of East Windup Chronicle, a website devoted to Asian baseball. "Managers in Korea are gods, basically. Here was a foreigner who treated his players like humans."

Then something even more foreign happened: The Giants started winning.

After finishing second to last in the eight-team league the previous season, the Giants won the home opener, 11-1, and kept going, winning more than 70 games before losing in the first round of the playoffs.

Royster, meanwhile, was winning over fans, once singing the team's fight song before a delighted crowd.

On opening day, four hours before the first pitch, Royster said he stared slack-jawed at a 30,000-seat stadium that was filled to capacity. With no assigned seating and few advance ticket sales, fans cluster early.

"As soon as the gates open, people swarm into the stadium like ants coming out of ant holes," said Curtis Jung, a Korean American from L.A. who is Royster's interpreter.

In the seventh inning, ushers hand out orange plastic bags for fans to clean up their trash. That's when the ballpark really comes alive: Fans attach the bags to their heads and sing songs for each player.

"It's ridiculous -- the energy," Royster said.

Win or lose, Giants fans cheer until their voices are hoarse. After a game -- even on the road -- fans form a phalanx from the locker room to the team bus. Everyone wants a piece of Royster.

"It's like a mosh pit," Jung said. "Picture a rock star going through a crowd. It's the same thing. People are clawing at him, giving him high-fives and pats on the back. Sometimes he can't get through and we have to sneak out a back door."

Royster is unfazed by the fans -- it's the umpires who baffle him. Few skippers here leave the dugout to argue calls. Those who do keep the tiffs brief, low-key.

Royster brought the good old American dirt-kicking style of home plate confrontations.

"Jerry's a competitor and when he disagrees with a call, watch out," Jung said. "He runs out there pretty quickly. He's already crossing the base line and I have to spring after him."

Sometimes the faceoff is comical. "Jerry doesn't stop for me to interpret what he's saying," Jung said. "He puts the umps on the defensive. They think, 'Here's this foreign guy yelling at me in English and I don't know what he's saying.' And I'm in the middle."

At first, the umpires were deferential. "It got to the point that if I came out to argue, many umps felt I must be right," Royster said. "They'd start apologizing. And I would go out and explain, before I made my point, that 'I need to know what you think.' "

The umpires got used to Royster's rants, but Jung didn't.

"Sometimes the umps try to calm Jerry down, sometimes they yell back," he said. "Then suddenly Jerry will turn and storm back to the dugout. I just follow him in. What can I do?"

Inside the dugout it's no different.

"Jerry gets impatient that Curtis isn't translating fast enough," said pitching coach Fernando Arroyo, a former pitcher with the Tigers, Twins and Athletics. "He'll say, 'I was telling you to say this.' And Curtis will say, 'I was trying. Then you started in with something else before I was even done.' They're like Jackie Gleason and Art Carney."

Royster knows there's one other thing he can count on when he returns to the dugout: the fans cheering him wildly.

"It's easy to love a winner," Royster said of Giants fans. "I just hope they continue to love us if we start to lose again."

john.glionna@latimes.com

Rush's First Televised Address to the Nation:
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Speech

RUSH: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you all. I can't tell you how wonderful that makes me feel. It happens everywhere I go, but it's still special here. [ Laughter ] If you all will indulge me, I learned something, I guess, it's early Friday morning that I didn't know. Friday morning is when I learned this. I learned that Fox, God love them, is televising this speech on the Fox News Channel, which means, ladies and gentleman, this is my first ever address to the nation. [Applause]

Now, I have someone in back taking phone numbers. In fact, I would like to introduce to you my security chief, a man who runs all of my security. His name is Joseph Stalin. Joseph, would you please -- [Laughter ] I am safe from any liberal attack, in public, because they would be afraid of offending Stalin. [Laughter] Now the opportunity here to address the nation, a serious one, it really is. And I want to take it seriously. I want to address something. I know that people are probably watching this who never have listened to my program and may not even really know what conservatism is. They think they do based on how they've been told -- the way we've been impugned and maligned and so forth. One of the things that is totally erroneous about me -- and I just want to get this up front -- is that I'm pompous. [Laughter]

And that I am arrogant. Neither of these things are remotely true. I can tell you a joke to illustrate this. Larry King passed away, goes to heaven. He's greeted by Saint Peter at the gates. Saint Peter says, "Welcome, Mr. King, it's great to have you here. I want to show you around, give you an idea of what's here, maybe you can pick a place that you'd like to reside." King says, "I just have one question: Is Rush Limbaugh here?"

"No, he's got a lot of time yet, Mr. King." So Saint Peter begins the tour. Larry King sees the various places and it's beyond anything we can imagine in terms of beauty. Finally, he gets to the biggest room of all, with this giant throne. And over the throne is a flashing beautiful angelic neon sign that says "Rush Limbaugh." [Laughter]

And Larry King looks at Saint Peter and says: "I thought you said he wasn't here."

"He said, he's not, he's not. This is God's room. He just thinks he's Rush Limbaugh."[Laughter] [Applause]

So you see I'm not pompous. [Laughter]

Now, seriously, for those of you watching on C-SPAN as well, and on Fox, I want to tell you who we all are in this room. I want to tell you who conservatives are. We conservatives have not done a good enough job of just laying out basically who we are because we make the mistake of assuming people know. What they know is largely incorrect based on the way we are portrayed in pop culture, in the Drive-By Media, by the Democrat Party.

Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government. [Applause]

We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you.

We don't want to tell anybody how to live. That's up to you. If you want to make the best of yourself, feel free. If you want to ruin your life, we'll try to stop it, but it's a waste. We look over the country as it is today, we see so much waste, human potential that's been destroyed by 50 years of a welfare state. By a failed war on poverty. [Applause]

We love the people of this country. And we want this to be the greatest country it can be, but we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we're all individuals. We resist the effort to group us. We resist the effort to make us feel that we're all the same, that we're no different than anybody else. We're all different. There are no two things or people in this world who are created in a way that they end up with equal outcomes. That's up to them. They are created equal, given the chance - -[Applause]

We don't hate anybody. We don't -- I mean, the racism in this country, if you ask me, I know many people in this audience -- let me deal with this head on. You know what the cliche is, a conservative: racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know you were, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year. [Applause]

It was not us asking whether Barack Obama was authentic. What we were asking is: Is he wrong? We concluded, yes. We still think so. But we didn't ask if he was authentically black. We didn't say, as some Southern Christian Leadership Conference leaders said: Barack is not authentic, he's not got any slave blood. He's really not down for the struggle, but his wife is. So don't expect the race industry to go away. Southern Christian Leadership Conference -- you may not know this, because it wasn't reported in the Drive-By Media -- the racism, the sexism, the bigotry that we're all charged with, just so you across the United States of America know, and you'll see demonstrated here as the afternoon goes on, doesn't exist on our side. We want everybody to succeed. [Applause]

You know why? We want the country to succeed, and for the country to succeed, its people -- its individuals -- must succeed. Everyone among us must be pursuing his ambition or her desire, whatever, with excellence. Trying to be the best they can be. Not told, as they are told by the Democrat Party: You really can't do that, you don't have what it takes, besides you're a minority or you're a woman and there are too many people that want to discriminate against you. You can't get anywhere. You need to depend on us.

Well. Take a look, someone has to say this -- I am thrilled for the opportunity to say it in my first national address to the nation -- and I'm going to touch on this in more detail in a moment, but this is just to get you thinking -- take a look at all the constituency groups that for 50 years have been depending on the Democrat Party to improve their lives. And you tell me if you find any. They're still complaining, still griping about the same problems. Their problems don't get fixed by government. And those lives have been poisoned. Those lives have been cut short by false promises, from government representatives who said don't worry about it, we'll take care of you. Just vote for us. [Applause]

For those of you just tuning in on the Fox News Channel or C-SPAN, I'm Rush Limbaugh and I want everyone in this room and every one of you around the country to succeed. I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed. And I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching Big Government that would stop your success, I want that organization, that element or that person to fail. I want you to succeed. [Applause] Also, for those of you in the Drive-By Media watching, I have not needed a teleprompter for anything I've said. [Cheers and Applause ] And nor do any of us need a teleprompter, because our beliefs are not the result of calculations and contrivances. Our beliefs are not the result of a deranged psychology. Our beliefs are our core. Our beliefs are our hearts. We don't have to make notes about what we believe. We don't have to write down, oh do I believe it do I believe that we can tell people what we believe off the top of our heads and we can do it with passion and we can do it with clarity, and we can do it persuasively. Some of us just haven't had the inspiration or motivation to do so in a number of years, but that's about to change. [Cheers and Applause]

For example, we gather here -- I understand that. I talked to David and Lisa in the super exclusive private green room that nobody, but about 55 people were allowed into, and they said that there's a sense of liberation here among all of you that are attending CPAC. I understand what the sense of liberation is about. But don't make the mistake at the same time of feeling liberated as thinking we're better and we can do better as a minority. Because we're not a minority. And if you start thinking of yourselves as a minority, you're going to be defensive. And you'll allow the majority to set the agenda and the premise and you're responding to it. The American people may not all vote the way we wish them to, but more Americans than you now live their lives as conservatives in one degree or another. And they are waiting for leadership. We need conservative leadership. We can take this country back. All we need is to nominate the right candidate. It's no more complicated than that. [Applause]

Now, let me speak about President Obama for just a second. President Obama is one of the most gifted politicians, one of the most gifted men that I have ever witnessed. He has extraordinary talents. He has communication skills that hardly anyone can surpass. No, seriously. No, no, I'm being very serious about this. It just breaks my heart that he does not use these extraordinary talents and gifts to motivate and inspire the American people to be the best they can be. He's doing just the opposite. And it's a shame. [Applause] President Obama has the ability -- he has the ability to inspire excellence in people's pursuits. He has the ability to do all this, yet he pursues a path, seeks a path that punishes achievement, that punishes earners and punishes -- and he speaks negatively of the country. Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that's very obscure. He's constantly telling the American people that bad times are ahead, worst times are ahead. And it's troubling, because this is the United States of America. Anybody ever ask -- I'm in awe of our country and I ask this question a lot as I've gotten older. We're less than 300 years old. We are younger than nations that have been on this planet for thousands of years. We, nevertheless, in less than 300 years -- by the way, we're no different than any other human beings around the world. Our DNA is no different. We're not better just because we're born in America. There's nothing that sets us apart. How did this happen? How did the United States of America become the world's lone super power, the world's economic engine, the most prosperous opportunity for an advanced lifestyle that humanity has ever known? How did this happen? And why pray tell does the President of the United States want to destroy it? It saddens me.

The freedom we spoke of earlier is the freedom, it's the ambition, it's the desire, the wherewithal, the passions that people have that gave us the great entrepreneurial advances, the great inventions, the greatest food production, the human lifestyle advances in this country. Why shouldn't that be rewarded? Why is that now the focus of punishment? Why is that now the focus of blame? Why doesn't -- Mayor Bloomberg the other day, ladies and gentlemen, resisting his Governor's call for an increased tax on the rich in New York had some astounding numbers. Eight million people live in New York. 40,000 of those eight million pay roughly 60 to 70% of New York's operating budget. He was afraid that if he raised taxes on those people some of them might leave. Mayor, one already has, by the way. [Applause] Stop and think of this, though. Stop and think of this. Forty thousand people out of eight million. He's right, if 10,000 of them leave, or 5,000, they've got a huge problem. Because New York has its own welfare state inside the one the federal government's created. They've got a dependency class that has grown up and been educated that their entitlement is to be fed and taken care of by these evil mean people who have more than they do. If New York City, New York State or Washington, DC were a business, these 40,000 people would be taken on golf tournament trips to Los Angeles, and they would be wined and dined and they would be thanked and they would be encouraged to keep it up. They wouldn't be told they're the problem. They wouldn't be told, except there's -- I pride my accuracy rating. There is one other business where the customer is always wrong and that's the media. Sorry about that. [Applause]

Have you ever called to complain about whatever they do? They say, yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full. They hang up and say you're too stupid to know how they're doing what they're doing. You can't get it. You're not sophisticated enough. So that's another business where the customer is always wrong. But, seriously, the people who have achieved great things, most of it is not inherited. Most wealth in this country is the result of entrepreneurial, just plain old hard work. There's no reason to punish it. There's no reason to raise taxes on these people. Barack Obama, the Democrat Party, have one responsibility, and that's to respect the oath they gave to protect, defend and follow the US Constitution. [Applause]

They don't have the right to take money that's not theirs, from the back pockets of producers, and give it to groups like ACORN, which are going to advance the Democrat Party. If anybody but government were doing this, it would be a crime. And many of us think it's bordering on that as it exists now. [Applause]

President Obama is so busy trying to foment and create anger in a created atmosphere of crisis, he is so busy fueling the emotions of class envy that he's forgotten it's not his money that he's spending. [Applause] In fact, the money he's spending is not ours. He's spending wealth that has yet to be created. And that is not sustainable. It will not work. This has been tried around the world. And every time it's been tried, it's a failed disaster.

What's the longest war in American history? Did somebody say the war on poverty? Smart group. War on poverty. The war on poverty essentially started in the '30s as part of the New Deal, but it really ramped up in the '60s with Lyndon Johnson, part of the Great Society war on poverty. We have transferred something like 10 trillion, maybe close to 11 trillion, from producers and earners to nonproducers and nonearners since 1965. Yet, as I listen to the Democratic Party campaign, why, America is still a soup kitchen, the poor is still poor and they have no hope and they're poor for what reason? They're poor because of us, because we don't care, and because we've gotten rich by taking from them, that's what kids in school are taught today. That's what others have said to the media. You know why they're poor, you know why they remain poor? Because their lives have been destroyed by the never-ending government hay that's designed to help them, but it destroys ambition. It destroys the education they might get to learn to be self-fulfilling. [Applause] And it breaks our heart. It breaks our heart. We lose track of numbers with all of the money, with all the money that's been transferred, redistributed, with all the charitable giving in this country.

Ladies and gentlemen, there ought not be any poverty except those who are genuinely ill equipped. But most of the people in poverty in this country are equipped for far much more. They've just been beaten down. They're told don't worry, we'll take care of you. There's nothing out there for you anyway; you'll be discriminated against. Breaks our heart to see this. We can't have a great country and a growing economy with more and more people being told they have a right, because of some injustice that's been done to them or some discrimination, that they have a right to the earnings of others. And it's gotten so out of hand now that what worries me is that this administration, the Barack Obama administration is actively seeking to expand the welfare state in this country because he wants to control it.

George Will once asked Dr. Friedrich Von Hayek, tremendous classical economist, great man, 1975, George Will, Dr. Von Hayek, why is it that intellectuals, supposed smartest people in the room, why is it that intellectuals can look right out their windows, their own homes and cars and look at their universities and not see the bounties and the growth and the greatness of capitalism? And Von Hayek said: I've troubled over this for years and I've finally concluded that for intellectuals, pseudo-intellectuals, and all liberals, it's about control. It's not about raising revenue. You think Obama has any intention of paying for all this spending? Folks, if he had any intention of paying for it, he wouldn't do 90% of it because we don't have the money. [Applause]

They don't care about paying for it. All that's just words. All that's just rhetoric paying for it because he knows you have to worry about paying for it. He knows we all have to be concerned -- oh, except, wrong again. Except the words of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who were given homes that everybody knew they could never pay for, and now Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the architects along with Bill Clinton of the policy that gave us the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis, get to sit around and act as innocent spectators to investigate what went on when they largely had the biggest role in causing it. [Applause]

Congressman Frank's definition of affordable housing is you get a house you don't have to pay for that everybody else in the neighborhood will pay for. Why? Because it's unfair that some people can have a house and some people can't. Geez, it's just unfair. So here we have two systems. We have socialism, collectivism, Stalin, whatever you want to call it, versus capitalism. Admittedly over on the right side capitalism there will be unequal outcomes because we're all different. And some of us care more and have more passion and we know what we want to do and others are still struggling for it. Some people are just going to work harder than others. Okay. You get what you work for. Those who have a genuine inability for whatever reason are taken care of. We're compassionate people. On the left side when you get into this collectivism socialism stuff, these people on the left, the Democrats and liberals today claim that they are pained by the inequities and the inequalities in our society. And they believe that these inequities and inequalities descend from the selfishness and the greed of the achievers. And so they tell the people who are on different income quintiles, whatever lists, they say it's not that you're not working hard enough, you could have what they have, perhaps, if you applied it. They're stealing it from you.

So what liberals do, and I say this again to the -- another thing, I know people in the country are watching. I was watching a focus group after some event this week. Might have been after Obama's State of the Union show. [Laughter] And they had -- it was a typical, you know, Drive-By Media focus group. They round up losers -- [Laughter] -- who hear Obama speak and think that the next day their gas tanks are going to be filled up and get a new house and a new kitchen and a new car. And so this one guy said -- oh, it was some guy responding to Bobby Jindal. Oh, by the way did you hear about Joe Biden? Joe Biden was mystified how Bobby Jindal got his shift off at 7-Eleven that night to make the speech. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Time out. Suspend speech for explanation. People watching at home. I'm glad this happened. Glad this happened. You think I just made a joke, an ethnic joke about Bobby Jindal, don't you? I didn't. I made a joke about the bigotry of the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden. It was Joe Biden while walking through the train station he knows so well because he's such a real guy, that he made a comment that you can't go into a 7-Eleven without seeing some Indian guy behind the counter. They're all over the place.

Now, let a conservative say something like that and he's brought up before John Conyers' committee with Pat Leahy wanting at you next. Many people think I lose my place in these speeches because -- by the way what time is it? We have plenty of time. We have to be out of here by -- [Applause] We have to be out of here by 6:00 -- okay, depends on how you behave. I'll decide as we go on. What liberalism Democrat, for those of you in the country, I really want you to believe this because it's the truth. I'm not saying it just because I believe it. This is a core. I want the best country we can have. We want the most prosperous people. We want to be growing. We want to lead the world. We want everybody to come here legally. We want this country to be so damn great and we just cringe to watch it -- basically capitalism be assaulted and our culture be reoriented to where the people that make it work are the enemy. That's not the United States of America. The people that make this country work, the people who pay on their mortgages, the people getting up and going to work, striving in this recession to not participate in it, they're not the enemy.

They're the people that hire you. They're the people that are going to give you a job. They're the people that are going to give you a raise, the people that need you to do work for them. [Applause] President Obama, and take your pick of any Democrat, love to say we've tried it your way. Meaning Reaganism. We've tried it your way. We tried it your way in the '80s and it didn't work. We tried it your way eight years, the last eight years and it didn't work. Excuse me. Excuse me. Have you ever noticed those of you watching around the world in my first international address to the world, Fox is on some international satellites. They're watching this in the UK right now going (cringing). When Obama talks about past economies, he somehow always leaves out the recession of the '80s as worse than this one. Why does he leave it out? Because you know why he leaves it out, America? He leaves it out because we got out of that recession with tax cuts. [Applause] For those of you watching at home, I'm not nervous it's just really hot in here. These people are wired. We got out of the 1980s recession with tax cuts. Do you know that President Obama, in six weeks of his administration, has proposed more spending than from the founding of the country to his inauguration?

Now, this is not prosperity. It is not going to engender prosperity. It's not going to create prosperity and it's also not going to advance or promote freedom. It's going to be just the opposite. There are going to be more controls over what you can and can't do, how you can and can't do it, what you can and can't drive, what you can and can't say, where you can and can't say it. All of these things are coming down the pike, because it's not about revenue generation to them, it's about control. They do believe that they have compassion. They do believe they care. But, see, we never are allowed to look at the results of their plans, we are told we must only look at their good intentions, their big hearts. The fact that they have destroyed poor families by breaking up those families by offering welfare checks to women to keep having babies no more father needed, he's out doing something, the government's the father, they destroy the family. We're not supposed to analyze that. We're not supposed to talk about that. We're supposed to talk about their good intentions. They destroy people's futures. The future is not Big Government. Self-serving politicians. Powerful bureaucrats. This has been tried, tested throughout history. The result has always been disaster. President Obama, your agenda is not new. It's not change, and it's not hope. [Applause] Spending a nation into generational debt is not an act of compassion. All politicians, including President Obama, are temporary stewards of this nation. It is not their task to remake the founding of this country. It is not their task to tear it apart and rebuild it in their image.

(Crowd chanting "USA")It is not their task, it is not their right to remake this nation to accommodate their psychology. I sometimes wonder if liberalism is not just a psychosis or a psychology, not an ideology. It's so much about feelings, and the predominant feeling that liberalism is about is about feeling good about themselves and they do that by telling themselves they have all this compassion. You know, if you really want to unhinge a liberal it's hard to do because they're so unhinged now anyway, even after -- but all you have to do is say you know that the things you people do, the things you people believe in are cruel. That's the last way they look at themselves. They are the best people on the -- they're the good people. You tell them that their ideas and that their policies are cruel and the eggs start scrambling.

I have learned how to tweak liberals everywhere. I do it instinctively now. Tweak them in the media. And no reason to be afraid of these people. Why in the world would you be afraid of the deranged? There really is no reason to be afraid of them. And there's no reason to assume they're the minority. And there's no reason to let them set all the premises and all the agendas to which we respond to. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here but everybody asks me and I'm sure it's been a focal point of your convention: What do we do as conservatives? What do we do? How do we overcome this?

Well, the one thing, and there are many, but one thing that we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas right now. I don't want to name any names. It's not the point. But I talk to people about the Obama budget or the Obama Porkulous bill or whatever else TARP 2 whatever it's going to be, and they start talking to me in the terms of process and policy. I say stop it. What do you mean? Who is setting the process or policy? They are. You want to tweak it? No. This is philosophy, folks. This guy, I forgot -- the guy in the focus group after Bobby Jindal said, I didn't want to hear him talk, he said: Republicans and Democrats. Republicans and Democrats. Ladies and gentlemen of the United States of America, that's exactly what your future is about, who wins, Republicans or Democrats, conservatives versus liberals. The notion of partisanship, false premise. Let me define bipartisanship for you. Bipartisanship -- everybody seems to go orgasmic over the concept of bipartisanship. Don't worry, I checked with Fox, that word's okay. [Laughter] [Applause]

Remember, they covered the Lewinsky thing, so that's my -- bipartisanship occurs only after one other result, and that is victory. In other words, let's say as conservatives liberals demand that we be bipartisan with them in Congress. What they mean is: We check our core principles at the door, come in, let them run the show and agree with them. That's bipartisanship to them. To us, bipartisanship is them being forced to agree with us after we politically have cleaned their clocks and beaten them. And that has to be what we're focused on. [Applause] Why would any of us in this room who hold the core beliefs we believe, somebody tell me where is the compromise on all of this spending? Where is the compromise on all this punishment of the achievers. I don't know. [Laughter]

Where is the compromise between good and evil? Should Jesus have cut a different deal? Serious. From the standpoint of what we have to do, folks, this is not about taking a policy or a process that the Democrats have put forward and fighting around the edges. If we're going to convince the minds and hearts of the American people that what's about to happen to them is as disastrous as anything in their lives in peacetime, we're going to have to discuss philosophy with them. We are going to have to talk about principles, because our principles are not present in what's happening here. So where the hell do we go to compromise what we believe in when our principles are not their principles, they're just the opposite of what's happening? [Applause]

The American people -- it's a tough challenge. I admit -- I admit it's a tough challenge, but it's worth it. It's worth it. The way I just defined bipartisanship you could turn it around and liberals will define bipartisanship when we surrender and say okay we give. We're not quitting. We are not giving up. The country is too important. [Applause] There are certain realities. We don't have the votes in Capitol Hill to stop what's going to happen. What we can do is slow it down, procedure, parliamentary procedures, slow it down and do the best we can to inform the American people of what's really on the horizon. I know it's going to be tough. At some points, I don't think it can happen even right now. This is still the honeymoon period, and there's a lot of devotion to the Obama administration. It doesn't have anything to do with intellectual thinking, it's feelings. It's going to take some time for this to play out. But I spoke to David Keene, interviewing him for my newsletter. I asked him about this. He said they're going to overreach. Wouldn't you say they have? [Laughter].

They're going to overreach. At some point, at some point people have got to realize none of this is possible. You can't have people living in homes they don't pay for. You can't have people driving cars they don't pay for. I mean, you can for a while. But after a while the people paying for it -- screw this. We're not putting up with it. And you're going to see -- you're already starting to see evidence of these. All the tea parties that are starting to bubble up out there. Those are great. Fabulous. [Applause] And here's the big question. Here's the big question. And I ask this again in the context of my first address to the nation. [Laughter] You don't know how I love saying that, how excited I am about this. Aside from the bastardization of the Constitution that the Obama plans are, that TARP is, it's not constitutional. Aside from that, where is the evidence that the people offering all of this have ever succeeded in any similar plans before? There's none. There is no evidence it works. [Applause]

So you say how is he getting it done? Dumb down public education. Emotions. And the ongoing -- this is why I think it's such a waste for a man as gifted as President Obama with the communications skills, you know he could wipe out the Republican Party. He can wipe out the Republican Party if he would inspire this country to be the best it could be, but we don't have to worry about that because that's not what he wants. He wants people in fear, angst and crisis, fearing the worst each and every day because that clears the decks for President Obama and his pals to come in with the answers, which are abject failures, historically shown and demonstrated. Doesn't matter. They'll have control of it when it's all over. And that's what they want. Because they think they can do it better. They see these inequalities, these inequities that capitalism produces. How do they fix it? Do they try to elevate those at the bottom? No! They try to tear down the people at the bottom. It's not fair you're up there. So they whack us. That's not what made the country great.[Applause] And no evidence of it is in play here.

John Kerry [Boos], who served in Vietnam. [Laughter] Think about this, and, by the way, Barney Frank got involved with this, too. Northern Trust, a bank in Chicago -- by the way, which holds the mortgage to the Messiah's house, purchased by Tony Rezko, Northern Trust holds the mortgage. Northern Trust was forced, like Wells Fargo was forced, to take TARP money. The Wells Fargo CEO said they were taken into Paulson's room and they were given until 5:00 to sign it. They weren't getting out until they did. They wanted it spread all over the banking business. Northern Trust was in there. They didn't want it. They took $1.6 billion. As you know, they went out and they sponsored the LA Riveria Open two weeks ago that Phil Mickelson barely hung on and won. [Applause]

And we find out they hired some liberals to entertain, but it still wasn't good enough. They hired Sheryl Crow. And they hired the rock crooner group Chicago, but they had the audacity, Northern Trust did, to entertain their clients, to try to reward their best customers, to get new customers, banking is in trouble, Northern Trust is trying to do what they always do, what all businesses do, and that is mine for new clients and reward existing good customers. Not since they took $1.6 billion, I guess. The haughty John Kerry wrote a piece of legislation said: He's getting sick and tired, sick and tired of these CEOs using taxpayer money to throw all these lavish parties. And I'm saying where do you get yours, Senator? [Applause]

Sad thing, sad thing is it works. They've created class envy in so many average Americans that they love hearing that. Yeah, you get even with those bank guys. How is it going to improve here? Let me ask a question for those of you watching my first national address. Take the favorite villain you've got, maybe it's John Thain at Merrill Lynch, because he used his own money, his company's own money, his company's own money, to redecorate a bathroom in an office for $1.2 million. By the way, to do that he had to hire a contractor. They got paid. Had to hire a designer and buy furniture, that's called stimulus. And he did it.

But all of a sudden John Thain's thrown out. John Thain is thrown out. He's humiliated and embarrassed; how dare he? He did it a year before they took the TARP money. And all these Congressmen are standing up saying this is not going to happen. We are not going to watch these people capping executive pay while Obama tries to live like one. You know, he's trying to emulate the lifestyle he is attacking. That's what liberals do. Two sets of rules: One for them; one for everybody else. But it's coming. See, if you think that John Thain or the Northern Trust CEO, if you love them getting attacked, if you love them being ripped, ask yourself the next day, do you have any more money in your pocket? Is your life any better because that guy got taken out or down by some haughty senator from Massachusetts?

If you ask yourself this, you'll realize your life is no better off. That the Democrats and Obama are asking you to feel better simply on the basis that they're going to get revenge for you, but your life isn't going to improve, somebody else's is just going to be destroyed and they want you to be happy over that. That's sick. And that is not the United States of America. [Applause] Besides, as far as John Kerry is concerned, if it wasn't for his varicose veins, he would be totally colorless. [Laughter]

Now let's talk about the conservative movement as it were. We, ladies and gentlemen, have challenges that are part and parcel of a movement that feels it has just suffered a humiliating defeat when it's not humiliating. This wasn't a landslide victory, 52 to, what, 46. Fifty-eight million people voted against Obama. There would have been more if we would have had a conservative nominee. [Applause] I don't mean that -- I mean that in an instructive way, as a lead-in to what I'm talking about here. No humiliating defeat here. I can't -- sometimes I get livid and angry. We do have an organizational problem. We have a challenge. We've got factions now within our own movement seeking power to dominate it, and worst of all to redefine it. Well, the Constitution doesn't need to be redefined. Conservative intellectuals, the Declaration of Independence does not need to be redefined and neither does conservatism. Conservatism is what it is and it is forever. It's not something you can bend and shape and flake and form. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you.

For the purposes of this occasion, I'm not going to mention any names, I bet with you I won't have to. People watching my first address to the nation might be curious what I'm talking about. They'll find out in due course, trust me on this. I cringed -- it might have been 2007, late 2007 or sometime during 2008, but a couple of prominent conservative but Beltway establishment media types began to write on the concept that the era of Reagan is over. [Crowd Booing]

And that we needed to adapt our appeal, because, after all, what's important in politics is winning elections. And so we have to understand that the American people, they want Big Government. We just have to find a way to tell them we're no longer opposed to that. We will come up with our own version of it that is wiser and smarter, but we've got to go get the Walmart voter, and we've got to get the Hispanic voter, and we've got to get the recalcitrant independent women. And I'm listening to this and I am just apoplectic: The era of Reagan is over? When the hell do you hear a Democrat say the era of FDR is over? You never hear it. Not only that, the President of the United States today thinks he's FDR, thinks he's Abraham Lincoln, and sometimes, Tuesday night, thinks he's Ronald Reagan. Our own movement has members trying to throw Reagan out while the Democrats know they can't accomplish what they want unless they appeal to Reagan voters. We have got to stamp this out within this movement, because it will tear us apart. It will guarantee we lose elections. [Applause]

We have to. You see, to me it's a no-brainer. It's not even something to me: How do you get rid of Reagan from conservatism? The blueprint -- the blueprint for landslide conservative victory is right there. Why in the hell do the smartest people in our room want to chuck it? I know why. I know exactly why. It's because they're embarrassed of some of the people who call themselves conservatives. These people in New York and Washington, cocktail elitists, they get made fun of when the next NASCAR race is on TV and their cocktail buds come up to them, those people are in your party? How do you put up with this? It would be easy to throw them overboard, so as to maintain these cocktail party/Beltway/New York City/inside-the-Beltway media relationships. But I tell you: This notion that Reaganism is dead, conservatism needs to be refined, let's take a look at this. We've got to go get the Walmart voter. I opened my remarks tonight by telling the people watching on Fox who we conservatives are. When I look out at you in this audience, I don't see a Walmart voter. And I don't see a black, and I don't see a woman, and I don't see a Hispanic. I see human beings who happen to be fortunate enough to be the luckiest people on Earth since you are Americans. [Applause]

Conservatism -- for us to make the decision that we've got to figure out policies, to get the Walmart voter -- psst, we've got most of them already, is the bottom line. Conservatism is a universal set of core principles. You don't check principles at the door. This is a battle that we're going to have. And there are egos involved here, too. When the situation like ours exists, there are people who want to lead it. They want to redefine it. Their egos are such that they want to be the next X, whoever it is. So there will be different factions lining up to try to define what conservatism is. And beware of those different factions who seek as part of their attempt to redefine conservatism, as making sure the liberals like us, making sure that the media likes us. They never will, as long as we remain conservatives. They can't possibly like us; they're our enemy. In a political arena of ideas, they're our enemy. They think we need to be defeated. Why do you think -- you all in this room know this. For those of you watching at home, my first address to the nation -- [Laughter] -- I'm sure you paid close enough attention, that you knew at one time Senator McCain was the favorite Republican of all the cable news networks and the Sunday shows. And they would just -- I mean their tongues would be on the floor. The media people (panting) when they knew McCain was coming. And they would treat McCain as the greatest guy in the world. Did you wonder why? You were told he was moderate. He was not strict. He was not an authoritarian, he was able to walk to the other side of the aisle, able to get along with the enemy. And everybody wants love and bipartisanship.

That's not why they invited Senator McCain. They invited Senator McCain because he happened to be the loudest at criticizing his own president and his own party and that's what they want, is people from our side -- and there will be factions in our movement, folks, who are going to make an effort to say we have to grow, we can't stay stale, I think I heard the term used the other day. Nothing stale about freedom. There's nothing stale about liberty. There's nothing stale about fighting for it. Nothing stale whatsoever. [Applause] Freedom. Are you getting tired of standing up, I don't blame you. By the way for those watching on TV you think the standing -- people are just tired. They've been up and out of their chairs 100 times here. [Applause] Thank you. Freedom -- freedom is the natural yearning of the human spirit as we were endowed by our creator. And the United States of America is the place in the world where that yearning flourishes, where freedom is expected because it's part of the way we're created.

I loved it when the Soviet Union went down and the wall went down and the liberals in our country said you know they may not be ready for freedom over there. They've been oppressed -- yes, liberals will gladly tell you who can have freedom and who can't. And that's what the pieces of legislation are all about, folks, freedom, liberty, economic prosperity, they're all entwined here. We'll have to as a conservative movement understand that our job, after we come to an agreement among ourselves, which shouldn't be hard but it's going to be difficult because the people that think they're smarter than everybody else are going to be out there forging alliances with people that try to make themselves look like new power brokers, and they will become the spokesmen, by the way.

By the way, explain that to you. This is a funny story. Show you how I can hijack a news cycle even by doing anything. The Tuesday before the inauguration, President Bush invited me to the Oval Office for lunch. And it was on and off the record, some of the conversations. And he brought out, interesting, at the end of it -- my birthday had been the day before. He brought out a chocolate birthday cake, a microphone, and stood beside me with Ed Gillespie and sang happy birthday. Photographers taking pictures. I wish my parents were alive. My parents wouldn't believe my life. They came out of the Great Depression. They didn't think it was possible for somebody who did not go to college -- and even for people who did -- they didn't think this was possible. Life has changed so much for the better in this country. That's why I cringe when I see what is in store.

So as I'm flying home from lunch, I'm watching television and I see that the word has leaked out that Obama is hosting a dinner with conservative media pundits at the home of George Will. I said: I wonder who these people are? [Laughter] In the media, one of them is going to have to leak it. Sure as heck, one did. Now, we all know who were there. And let's see -- I can't remember all the names, so I won't mention any. But let me tell you Obama's purpose. Does anybody really think that Barack Obama had dinner with a bunch of conservatives hoping they would change his mind?

CROWD: No!

RUSH: Hell, no. His purpose -- and his purpose really wasn't to change theirs -- his purpose was to anoint them as conservative spokesmen. These are the people that Obama's willing to break bread with. These happen -- some of the people there happen to be the people who think the era of Reagan is over, who believe that conservatism needs to be redefined. Of course Obama would try to lure them in. Well, all of a sudden I land. I get home about 5:00, and my e-mail is jammed with questions from reporters, are you, is that why you took the day off today? Is that why you're not on the air? Are you going to dinner with Obama? By the way, I left out a crucial part of the story. Was this a Monday, Kit? It was a Tuesday. I had forgotten to tell my audience that I was going to miss the next day. I signed off the show saying I'll see you tomorrow. That's the last thing I said. The staff reminded me you're not going to be here tomorrow. I came up with a plan, that the guest host the next day would say that I was called out of town to Washington at midnight the night before. Just an innocent little trick on the radio audience. Everybody picked that up and thinks I'm invited to the Obama dinner. So those people that were invited to it got less coverage than I did and I didn't even know about it. [Laughter] It was fun. [Applause]

Conservatives are naturally happy. We seek happiness. We pursue it. It's part of who we are. So what can you do? Live your life. I swear, folks, you do not know in just the everyday life that you live in your homes, your neighborhoods, the favorite word of this administration, your "communities." Remember the root word there is "commune." [Applause] Be happy, live your life according to your values and principles. Know you're going to fail, no human being is perfect, you're going to make mistakes, but live your life -- you'll be stunned at how many people you impress. Don't be afraid to tell children that they're wrong. They don't know what you do. They simply haven't lived long enough. It's not their fault, but they're being fed a bunch of garbage in school and don't be afraid to tell them that they're wrong.

Don't go the Oprah route and say gotta be friends with my parents, my kids, first and foremost. Understand they're going to hate you for a while and they're going to rebel against you and someday they're going to think you're the smartest person they ever met. But you owe them the truth. You owe them the truth about things. You owe them the truth about morality. You owe them the truth about values. [Applause] You owe them the truth about politics. Next thing, we've got to stop treating voters as children. [Applause] Somebody says they want something that's bad for them, do you give it to them just to be nice? Or do you tell them, regardless of their age, no, you shouldn't have that? Well, it's none of your business. Maybe not. And then you back out of it. But you still have to have the ability to tell people what's right and wrong. And that's not authoritative. That's not authoritarian. And it's not trying to deny somebody a good time. It's not trying to interrupt somebody's hedonism, pleasure, it's about all of us with shared values trying to make sure that people live the highest quality lives they can. Ultimately, it's their decision as to what they do. But the point is, don't treat them -- especially voters -- as kids just -- they say they want it okay we'll come up with a plan to give it to you.

Have any of you seen the movie -- I'd never heard of it, but I happened to get a DVD the other day. Anybody see the movie Swing Vote with Kevin Costner? You know, it's kind of a moronic movie like most things out of Hollywood are. But this is fascinating in the way -- tell you a short story, because a voter screwup in New Mexico there's one voter who is going to elect the president. His vote didn't count because his daughter voted for him. I won't give the whole story away. But New Mexico's electoral votes, New Mexico's electoral votes determined it. And they have a two-week period before this guy can vote again. So the challenger and the president both relocate to where this guy lives in New Mexico and they end up like the Democrat played by Dennis Hopper stands for antiabortion. The Democrat candidate comes out with a commercial for life. The Republican candidate comes out, because this guy is an idiot and doesn't know what he believes, and every utterance that he makes these politicians react to it throwing their principles on the floor, just to get his vote. Sadly, this is what some of the conservative intellectuals in our movement want to do, essentially. And that we cannot do. We've got to stand for what we believe and treat people as adults and understand they can learn. [Applause] Go optimism.

Joe Biden, ladies and gentlemen, was watching CBS -- when did you start here? Thursday. You might have seen this. The days run together. It might have been Wednesday, but Biden was on the CBS Early Show. And he was asked -- the anchorette -- sorry. I'm trying to change my ways. I've been doing women summit programs so not to offend women. The anchor, Maggie Rodriguez, went out and got some man-on-the-street questions. And one guy, woman, I think question for Biden. What is in the stimulus package for small business? Biden was clearly stumped because there isn't anything in the stimulus package for small business. So what Biden said, honest to God, what Biden said was: Well, if there's a bridge to your small business, we're going to make sure that bridge stays open so that you can get to your small business and your customers -- honest. I kid you not. Now, of course, the media today is a bunch of hacks, they're out there as PR agents; they're starting to get a little embarrassed. Maggie Rodriguez says, Senator Biden, there's a website that answers all these questions. What is the name of the website and Biden says I don't know. He looks off stage. "Does somebody have the website number?" [Applause] I realize those of you watching at home during my first address to the nation, you have never heard liberal Democrats be made fun of in this way. Get used to it. [Applause]

Two other things and we'll get out of here contractually over time. The president's stimulus package, the TARP, the whatever, the budget, relies on one thing for its success. Well, aside from authoritarian government power. It relies on the complacency of the American people. It relies on their belief that they can convince the American people that there's such a crisis that only government, the only entity that can fix it is government, as Obama has said. So they get complacent and they sit around and they wait. See, this is something liberals will never understand about the United States of America and it's right under their noses, right in front of their faces, we are a competitive people. We strive, enough of us do, to be the best. We strive to win. We strive to avoid defeat. Enough of us still do. Don't believe otherwise. The liberals have made efforts to shut that aspect of our nature down. Wherever you live, I am certain that you, when you were a child or your kids today in youth sports are told not to keep score, because the losers, it's just not fair. They'd be humiliated, especially if one girl's basketball team can defeat another one 100 to nothing. And let's fire the coach who put that game together. It's so unfair. So let's not keep score. Well, here's the dirty little secret. The kids are keeping score. [Applause] You know they are. They don't want to lose. They know what winning and losing is. They're saying, well, why go out there and put on the pads and play football or T-Ball if the objective here is to not keep score. So they're keeping score. They get in the car with mom and dad and they tell mom and dad: Yeah, we kicked their butts tonight. Wait a minute, I thought you weren't keeping score. They weren't officially. They keep score. We're competitive people. Adults are doing the same thing.

It didn't take long for people to get fired up when they figured out that they're going to be paying mortgages for people who should never have been lent money in the first place for the bogus excuse of maintaining property values in the neighborhood. This is something that -- the complacency of the American people is something they're going to rely on along with their authoritarian efforts to control it. But they will not succeed at this. Because we're not quitters. We don't acquiesce. We're not going to give up the American dream and watch idly while it is restructured and transformed.
[Applause]

As I say, we want the best: Happiness for everybody. Now, about my still-to-me mysteriously controversial comment that I hope President Obama fails. I was watching the Super Bowl. And as you know, I love the Pittsburgh Steelers. [Cheers and Applause] So they have this miraculous scoring drive that puts them up by four, 15 seconds left. Kurt Warner on the field for the Cardinals. And I sure as heck want you to know I hope he failed. I did not want the Cardinals to win. I wanted Warner to make the biggest fool of himself possible. I wanted a sack, I wanted anything. I wanted the Steelers to win. I wanted to win. I wanted the Cardinals to fail.

This notion that I want the President to fail, folks, this shows you a sign of the problem we've got. That's nothing more than common sense and to not be able to say it, why in the world do I want what we just described, rampant government growth indebtedness, wealth that's not even being created yet that is being spent, what is in this? What possibly is in this that anybody of us wants to succeed? Did the Democrats want the war on Iraq to fail!

CROWD: Yes!

RUSH: They certainly did. They not only wanted the war in Iraq to fail, they proclaimed it a failure. There's Dingy Harry Reid waiving a white flag: [doing Harry Reid impression] "This war is lost. This war is" -- [Cheers and Applause] They called General Petraeus a liar before he even testified. Mrs. Clinton -- [Crowd Booing] -- said she had to, willingly suspend disbelief in order to listen to Petraeus. We're in the process of winning the war. The last thing they wanted was to win. They hoped George Bush failed. So what is so strange about being honest to say that I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed? [Applause]

Let me add a caveat here. My friends, I know what's going on. I know what's going on. We're in the aspects here of an historic presidency. I know that. But let me be honest again. I got over the historical aspects of this in November. President Obama is our president. President Obama stands for certain things. I don't care, he could be a Martian. He could be from Michigan, I don't know -- just kidding. Doesn't matter to me what his race is. It doesn't matter. He's liberal is what matters to me. And his articulated -- his articulated plans scare me. Now, I understand we can't say we want the President to fail, Mr. Limbaugh. That's like saying -- this is the voice of the New Castrati, by the way, guys who have lost their guts. You can't say Mr. Limbaugh that you want the President to fail because that's like saying you want the country to fail. It's the opposite. I want the country to survive. I want the country to succeed. [Cheers and Applause] [Crowd Chanting "USA" ]

I want the country to survive as we have known it, as you and I were raised in it, is what I mean. Now, I have been called -- and I can take it. Pioneers take the arrows, I don't mind what anybody says about me, any time ever. I don't have time for it. I don't give other people the power to offend me. And you shouldn't either, by the wasted time being offended.[Applause]

I mean, there's some people you can't say you want the President to fail. Ladies and gentlemen of the United States, the Democrat Party has actively not just sought the failure of Republican presidents and policies and now wars for the first time, the Democrat Party doesn't stop at failure. Talk to Judge Robert Bork or Justice Clarence Thomas about how they tried to destroy lives, reputations and character, and I'm supposed to say I don't want the President to fail? [Applause] We're in for a real battle. We are talking about the United States of America -- and there will always be an America, don't misunderstand me -- we're talking about it remaining the country we were all born into and reared and grown into. And it's under assault. It's always under assault. But it's never been under assault like this from within before. And it's a serious, serious battle.

So as you leave here, as you leave here optimism, confidence, not guilt, it's not worth it. There's nothing to be guilty about. Don't treat people as children. Respect their intelligence. Realize that there's a way to persuade people. Sometimes the worst way is to get in their face and point a finger. Set up a set of circumstances where the conclusion is obvious. Let them think they came up with the idea themselves. They'll think they're smart that they figured it out. Who cares how you persuade them, the fact they can be persuaded is factually correct, it's possible. But the main thing to do here is stop thinking that we are a minority. Stop thinking that it is being in the minority that liberates you. It is your beliefs. It is your core principles, it is your confidence that liberates you. It's not being in the minority.

In fact, for those of you watching my first national address and still hanging in there, we really are not that happy about being a minority and we're out to change it. [Applause] So I have -- I've gone over my allotted time by an hour. [Applause]

I want to thank all of you so much for everything that you have meant to me and my family in my life.

CROWD: Thank you.

RUSH: I understand it's mutual. And I hear people -- you have made my heart grow so much that it barely fits in my chest cavity here tonight. But the things that by virtue of your listening to my radio show and being active in this movement that we all cherish and love, you have meant more to me, my family and my life than whatever it is I might mean to you, even though I know that's considerable. [Applause] You still can't outdo the absolute joy and awe and thanks I feel for all of you. I've been doing this for 20 years and the numbers just keep growing. And I can't tell you how appreciative I am and proud to be in a movement with the same passions, desires and core beliefs that all of you have, because we know that it's right for the country, and we know it's right for people. It's not something that has to be forced on them. It's not something that has to be authoritatively pressed on them. We are what is, and that's why we are an enemy because we're effective. The people that do want control look at us as the enemy. We're always going to be -- don't ever measure your success by how many Drive-By Media reports you see that are fair to us. Never going to happen. Don't measure your success by how many people like you. Just worry about how they vote. And then at the end of the day how they live, but that's really none of your business once they close the doors. Thank you all very much. It's been great.


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