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!

Minnesota Smiles – RNC Recap

Minnesota Smiles

Over the course of the past several days I’ve had time to collect my thoughts on my recent trip to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St.Paul.

Quite frankly, the memories still retain a dream-like quality. Somebody pinch me. (by pinching, I don’t mean striking a camera out of my hands). Being witness to one of the most historic and inspiring conventions will resound in my memory for quite some time.

Let me begin by thanking the wonderful individuals who donated towards my trip to the Convention. THANK YOU! This trip challenged me in many ways, and your support was greatly appreciated.

An old adage states “travel broadens the mind’, I would expand on this statement by remarking that experiencing a national political convention knocks you out of the park. Oh, wait that was Sarah’s speech!

Admittedly, I was a bit overwhelmed with the attention this convention would generate. There I was right in the middle of this political and media maelstrom, wondering what the heck was I doing there? Dear readers, I am happy to report that I did not falter in the face of adversity, but soared.

The memories of the event were made sweeter by sharing them with the following bloggers:

They are my inspiration and political mentors. It would not have been such a successful convention without their friendship and support.

Ken Wheaton: Thank you for showing me the ropes on that crazy Monday. I was a small fish in a big pond and your direction helped me find my way around the media gauntlet.

Backyard Conservative – Blogher political contributor – Anne Leahy. An articulate, politically informed woman who is one the hardest working bloggers I know.

Marathon Pundit: A wonderful walking companion and tour guide. It was a pleasure to explore St. Paul with such an individual.

Sean Hackbarth – A likable fellow who was the first person to whisper “Sarah Palin is the new Reagan”. Now that whisper is being shouted from rooftops across this nation.

Caleb Howe: The guy can write a killer blog post and has a knack for catching democrats revealing their souls. I have all kinds of respect for this uber blogger. All hail Caleb!

Sheridan Folger – No relation to Folger’s Coffee that I can discern. A mad Irishman and blogger, quite the dynamic combination with no caffeine needed.

Lance Burri – the world’s largest small blogger. He has an undeniable presence and is a brilliantly talented blogger. With all his talents, I would never use his image as eye catching filler on my blog. Nope. Never. Not I.

Fausta – A fashionista after my own heart. An incredibly astute diva blogger whom I’ve had the pleasure to meet at the Convention and at CPAC 2008.

Stix – A blogger and frequent commentor at Flopping Aces. It was a pleasure to meet the famous Stix. His energy and enthusiasm were contagious. I’m thinking his energy stemmed from “living the dream” of staying at a bar for the entirety of the Convention.

Eric The most interesting human being I’ve ever met. You have to experience Eric to appreciate him. He gets bonus points for the brilliant comparison of myself to Sarah Palin.

Grizzly Groundswell A collection of bloggers that comprise the “Main Street Media”, an alternative to the lame MSM.

Lady Logician – A brilliant woman blogger who works tirelessly to bring bring real change through the True North collection of bloggers.

Joshua Trevino – An articulate and thoughtful blogger who fearlessly took on the CEO of Google in a debate on net neutrality. Bravo!

The knowledge, the inspiration, and the friendship are the real treasures I take from this convention.

Oh, I have to thank the Minneapolis PD for escorting me safely back to my hotel late one night. Thank You!

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.

Orrin Hatch Moment

Bumped into Orinn Hatch walking through Rice Park after his live broadcast on MSNBC.

Skye on BlogHer

My new friend and Blogher Diva, Anne of Backyard Conservative was kind enough to interview me for Blogher video:

A moment with Alan Colmes

Two Democrats and one Republican. Can you guess which one is the Republican?

I told Alan that it is nice to see a fellow democrat here at the RNC Convention. He laughed and offered to pose for a photo with myself and Marathon Pundit.

I was still reeling from having Karl Rove say hello to me as he walked past me outside the Xcel Energy Center. I am serious. Karl Rove greeted me as I walked to the security entrance.

First Look at McCain’s Stage

I had the opportunity this morning to get an early look at the stage being set up for McCain’s acceptance speech as the RNC Presidential Nominee. Below are more details regarding the design of the stage and how it reflects the personality of the future President of the United States:

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Today, the 2008 Republican National Convention unveiled the podium from which John McCain will accept the Republican Party’s nomination to be the next president of the United States.

The podium used for the first three nights of the convention was modified to enable John McCain to deliver his acceptance speech from the center of the Xcel Energy Center. The new podium is a reflection of the town-hall style that has been a hallmark of McCain’s campaign. In the new forum, he will be surrounded by the delegates that nominated him the night before.

The new podium was constructed by removing the front corner sections of the existing platform and extending its midsection by 30 feet. The extension will be eight feet wide. Near the conclusion of tonight’s program, Sen. McCain will address the convention from a lectern positioned near the end of this newly-constructed extension. To accommodate the modified platform, delegates from the state of Ohio will be re-seated on either side.

Breaking News

Via Marthon Pundit:

Kwame Kilpatrick, Obama supporter and Mayor of Detroit, has been sentenced to prison for 4 months. This is good news for the McCain campaign! Michigan is now more in play for the GOP, as the citizens are tired of corruption and a poor economy.