A Kurdish Affair

Meet Radawan. A Kurdish born forester who was drafted into saddam’s army during the Iran/Iraq war. He was lucky to have another skill, fluent English, which landed him work outside the army as translator for UN workers. His contacts with UN employees lead him to forming a friendship with a family in Minneapolis-St.Paul. With help from friends, he left Iraq for America in 1991. He walked into this country with $50.00 to his name and went to work washing dishes in MSP. With determination and hard work he opened his restaurant “Babani’s“ in 1998.

I was fortunate to join blogger and radio extraordinaire Ed Morrisey for a lunch at Babani’s. The lunch was sponsored by Verizon and featured delicious Kurdish dishes.

The lentil soup was sublime:

A selection of Kurdish delights!

Mmmm, delicious! I’ve developed a new appreciation for middle eastern cuisine.

Oh, did I forget to mention – Radawan votes Republican!

It Would Not Be A Convention Without A Protest

I would be remiss in not reporting on what I witnessed at the RNC Convention regarding the actions of peace protesters and anarchists.

Accompanied by bloggers, Stix and Marathon Pundit, I visited two places where the peace protesters and anarchists gathered to plead their complaints publicly, Rice Park and the state capital park.

Rice Park, a picturesque square situated one block away from the Xcel Energy Center. The park is filled with amusing statues of Charles Schultz’s creations, a life sized statue of F. Scott Fitzgerald greets visitors, flowing fountains and flower-filled baskets decorate the park. MSNBC chose this venue to set up their outdoor reporting platform. In doing so, perhaps purposely, the media outlet attracted what I label fringe rejects. Code Pink was a frequent visitor to Rice Park.

The Paulistans, Truthers, Obama’s lover and other assorted individuals jockeyed to place their signs where it could be viewed in the background of various MSNBC live broadcasts. After taking a picture of one massive sign with the message of Bush being a murder, liar and so forth, I asked the owner who they were voting for this election. She responded ‘Cynthia McKinney’. It was a wonder how I kept my poker face as I walked away. Like a bad penny, she followed me through the crowd to ask what media I worked for, so I told her ‘Blackwater News’.

Rice Park is a great place to savor a Starbuck’s caramel latte while chatting with a dog owner who renamed his dogs to Obama and Hilary for this week. In St. Paul, I didn’t have to seek them out, they found me!

Code Pink organized a small group of supporters who had trouble following along with the chants of the day. Interestingly enough, there was push back from the surrounding crowd. For a minute, I had the cameras focused on me instead of Code Pink when I explained the sordid history of this organization to two Code Pink hecklers. The crowd let out a laugh when a protester with a megaphone described Code Pink as wiccans and witches. I’ve seen what they did in Berkeley, and had to agree that it was a characterization not far from the truth!

Must say that meeting the blogger who captured the Don Fowler comments on a flight to Raleigh was one highlight of this adventure.

As much fun as it was to watch the spectacle going on at Rice Park, there were other areas that we wanted to explore.

The State Capitol Building sits on a hill and is a striking neoclassical building. On two occasions I wandered to the Capitol the peace protesters were nowhere to be found, although evidence of their existence could be detected by the trash found on the ground.

We finally encountered these often discussed and never seen protesters on Thursday afternoon. We watched as they converged on the 7th street bridge. The bridge was secured by Minneapolis robocops and horse patrols. I’d like to say I saw something new and exciting, but it was the same tired refrain I see every week in West Chester.

When we detected an odor of bleach around the protesters, it was decided that it would be in our best interest to head back to the Xcel Energy Center instead of sticking around to see the fireworks.

And so ends the tale of our protester quest in St. Paul.

Fred Thompson speaks at Blogger Brunch

“Never Underestimate John McCain”

Fred spoke to assembled credentialed bloggers at a brunch sponsored by RedState and Google. The phone you hear during the speech was mine. Oops….note to self…silence is golden.

Interview with Al Jazeera

It is interesting who strikes up a conversation with you in the Press Filing Center:

Myself and Marathon Pundit were both interviewed by a roving reporter for Al-Jazeera English.

Vets For Freedom – Salute To Heroes

Vets For Freedom, a non partisan veteran organization, held a sparkling reception at the Union Depot in St. Paul this past Tuesday. Featured speakers included Lindsey Ghrahm, Jon Voight, the ever feisty Col.Bud Day. Delicious food, heroic company, and a stylish setting, what more could a blogger from Philly ask for?

Jon Voight reflects with passion and a touch of humor regarding McCain and the war on terror:

FYI: Low light levels and no tripod make for interesting videos, don’t you agree?

Senator Lindsey Graham speaks:

At the close of this event, I bumped into this gregarious fellow:

Characters on the Left and Elsewhere..

A convention always draws a large melange of people , most being quite colorful. I’ve selected a few photos to illustrate the rainbow that was on display in Minneapolis-St.Paul this past week:

Meet the canine Obama and Hilary. I don’t recall which one was which, so I will leave it up to my readers to decide. In a conversation with their owner, he revealed that he temporarily renamed them this week to Hilary and Obama. Cute dogs, strange owner.

Two thoughts come to mind in the next photo:

1. This woman is as perpetually single as Maureen Dowd.

2. This woman has astronomical dating standards.

Only at a convention can one partake in the exquisite experience of spending quality time in a personal ‘Free Speech Pen’. With this customizable and portable ‘Free Speech Pen’ you can take your unalienable right of free speech anywhere in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Act now and you can get not one but TWO ‘Free Speech Pens’ for the low, low price of $19.99 plus S&H.

*Sigh* C’mon, think happy thoughts!

In a few days, he will stop staring at me.

In a few months McCain/Palin will make history!

Happy Thoughts, People!

Looks as though someone got lost on the way to the mothership…

Conversation with Congressman Burgess R-TX

Just prior to John McCain’s acceptance speech, myself along with several bloggers had an informal Q&A with U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess (R-TX). The topic of discussion was the McCain platform on health care.

According to the information provided by McCain’s website one of the innovative features will be a reformation of the tax code in order to offer citizens a wider choice in health care outside of job related health insurance:

John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code To Offer More Choices Beyond Employer-Based Health Insurance Coverage. While still having the option of employer-based coverage, every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit – effectively cash – of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance. Families will be able to choose the insurance provider that suits them best and the money would be sent directly to the insurance provider. Those obtaining innovative insurance that costs less than the credit can deposit the remainder in expanded Health Savings Accounts.

Congressman Burgess Bio:

U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D., a resident of Lewisville, worked as a doctor in Denton County for over 21 years. A respected physician of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Lewisville, Dr. Burgess delivered more than 3000 babies in North Texas before heading to Congress in 2003.

Since his election in 2002, Congressman Michael Burgess has made amazing strides in pushing legislative priorities including modernizing America’s health care system, building a strong defense, protecting our Homeland, cutting wasteful government spending, reforming the tax code, and making America energy self-sufficient.

First elected in 2002, Congressman Burgess served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure, Government Reform and Science Committees during his first term. Re-elected in 2004 and 2006, Congressman Michael Burgess serves as a member of the prestigious House Energy and Commerce Committee which is one of only three exclusive committees in the House of Representatives. Congressman Burgess sits on four subcommittees: Health, Energy, Oversight and Investigations, and Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

The Congressman was kind enough to entertain our questions in a relatively quiet area of the Media Filing Center. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Congressman Burgess for finding time in his busy schedule to discuss the McCain healthcare platform.

Congressman Burgess discusses how many days Congress will be in session for the rest of the 2008.

Code Pink-Gate

I’ve read with interest the stories around how Code Pink gained access to the Xcel Center. Michelle Malkin, Jonn Lilyea, Gateway Pundit and Tygrrrr Express have written extensively on this sad tale.

Allow me to share my two cents on this issue:

The photo above is one of my credentials to the Convention. Note that the credential has no name or photo of the owner. Security at the Xcel Energy Center focused on individuals having the correct credential for the area that they were entering and not confirming that you are the precise owner of that credential.

After McCain’s speech, I wandered back to the media filing center to upload photos, where I witnessed a pretty young thing hand a delegate floor credential back to the owner – a blogger attached to the New Hampshire delegation. He then told her to keep the credential as a souvenir.

Although there is no name or photo identification,a bar code tracks back to the individual assigned to the credential. It would be a simple task to discover who the credential belonged to based upon the bar code. For an employee of a large media organization to hand a pass to these idiots would be a career destroying move. I’m leaning towards the idea that it was a disgruntled delegate, or a credentialed blogger or an independent media outlet that purposefully obtained credentials for the purpose of handing them over to code pink. I’m not sure that any small indy media outlet or blogger would cry over being banned from attending future Republican conventions.

On a related note:

Is it a coincidence that MSNBC’s skybox was located next to al-jazeera?

Obama Gaffes His Way Through Philadelphia

Since I am departing St.Paul for Philadelphia – I offer a few classic “O” Gaffes:
H/T: Marathon Pundit

“I think we should spend some of that money right here in New Pennsylvania.” – Barack Obama, in New Philadelphia, Ohio, September 3, 2008

Penn State right here. Nittaly Lions.” – Barack Obama, referring to the Penn State Nittany Lions, in York, PA, September 4, 2008

The Next President of the US Speaks!

Fight for what’s right for our country.
Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.
Fight for our children’s future.
Fight for justice and opportunity for all.
Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.
Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.
Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here.
We’re Americans, and we never give up.
We never quit.
We never hide from history.
We make history.

John reached out to the American people tonight, and the difference between him and his opponent is everything. I look forward to January 20th, 2009 when I witness Senator McCain become President McCain.

Tonight, I am euphoric and ready to get to work to make history.