How many candidates even understand what Mitt Romney is talking about?  How many have his awareness of the nature and direction of sound economic decisions?

None.  Not one.

As for the alleged anti-Thompson web site, it's about time Fred stopped playing the victim and started expounding on his policies and what he can do for America.

Don't hold your breath.

Toldja he'd embarrass himself.

Fred on abortions:

"Don't punish women who have abortions," presidential hopeful Fred Thompson says. Punish the doctors who perform them...Authorities "can do whatever they want to with abortion doctors, as far as I'm concerned," the former Tennessee senator said while campaigning in Western Iowa according to the Los Angeles Times. But "if it comes down to giving criminal sanctions to a 19-year-old girl and her mama, I'm against that."

So illegal abortions are OK, then?   What about the person who inserts the coat hanger or injects saline into the girl's womb?   Or the person who discards the fetus.

What about the 19-year-old's daddy and boyfriend who pay for the abortion, Fred?

What's it gonna be, Fred? 

And the nurses who assist the doctor -- are they also accessories to murder?

Fred. Fred. Fred.  Go on back to Tennessee and raise your daughter, Fred. 

Anyone who views this video and expects this man to wage a serious campaign -- much less maintain an upright position for an extended period of time (unless every campaign stop is equipped with a golf cart and oxygen tank)  -- is either a democrat or an illiterate TV re-run addicted far-right idealist.  This man looks and sounds sick.  Sick.  Unhealthy.  Sick.  Not well.  Sick.

Whoever approved this "bobble-head" video must have been a billary operative.   Please don't embarrass this man any more.

No wonder the dems are stepping up their attacks on Mitt Romney.

I stole this from Factoring Fred -- who probably got it from another site.

... stole the headline, too.  Guess I owe you one, guys.

Today is Labor Day, first celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882. The holiday was the idea of the Central Labor Union in New York City, which organized a parade and a picnic featuring speeches by union leaders. It was intended to celebrate labor unions, call for the eight-hour workday, and to recognize the achievements of the American worker.

Many of the labor laws those early activists wanted were passed in the 1930s, including the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour workweek. Most sociologists predicted that in the coming decades Americans would work steadily fewer and fewer hours. But in fact, the opposite has happened. Today, more than 25 million Americans work more than 49 hours each week. And 11 million spend 60 hours or more at work each week. Americans also take fewer vacation days than employees in any other industrialized nation, making Americans the hardest-working (or most overworked) industrialized nation on the planet.

Labor Day Traditions:

Commonly referred to as the last day(weekend) of summer .... Labor Day is also celebrated by having picnic, group gathering, flea markets, yard sales, celebrating events of the summer and relaxing throughout the day. Some cities have parades and community picnics. Many politicians "kick off' their political campaigns by holding rallies on the holiday. Most Americans consider Labor Day the end of the summer, and the beaches and other popular resort areas are packed with people enjoying one last three-day weekend.

A recurring Labor Day event in the United States, since 1966, is the annual telethon of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, hosted by Jerry Lewis to fund research and patient support programs for the various diseases grouped as muscular dystrophy. The telethon raises tens of millions of dollars each year.

Labor Day weekend also marked the annual running of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC. The race was run at any time during the weekend from 1950-2002. In 2004, NASCAR began racing on Labor Day weekend at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. This dropped the race to November in the schedule for 2004 which became a night race and was dropped altogether in 2005 in favor of a Mother's Day weekend night race.

And did we mention football?  Colleges generally begin their season this weekend -- followed by the NFL.  

And don't forget the US Open in tennis, which concludes on Labor Day weekend.

An old custom eschewed wearing white after Labor Day. The custom is rooted in nothing more than popular fashion etiquette. In actuality, the etiquette originally stated that white shoes were the taboo while white or "winter white" clothes were acceptable. This custom is fading from popularity as it continues to be questioned and challenged, particularly by leaders in the fashion world. "Fashion magazines are jumping on this growing trend, calling people who 'dare' to wear white after Labor Day innovative, creative, and bold. Slowly but surely, white is beginning to break free from its box, and is becoming acceptable to wear whenever one pleases. This etiquette is comparable to the Canadian fashion rule against wearing green after Remembrance Day. In the world of western attire, it is similarly tradition to wear a straw cowboy hat until Labor Day. After Labor Day, the felt hat is worn until Memorial Day.

Most writers have worked day jobs at some point in their careers to support their writing, and many have been inspired by those day jobs. Salman Rushdie was an advertising man, and so was Allen Ginsberg. Wallace Stevens worked for an insurance company. Charles Bukowski worked, among other things, as a janitor, a truck driver, and a bouncer for a brothel. Walt Whitman worked for a while as a teacher in series of windowless, poorly heated, one-room schoolhouses for almost no money. While teaching at one school, he wrote to a friend, "How tired and sick I am of this wretched, wretched hole! — ... O, damnation, damnation! Thy other name is school-teaching."

And for those who have endured the smothering heat of August and the wretched natural disasters of fire and water this summer -- may this Labor Day holiday, indeed, be a day of peaceful rest.

sources:  The net and Garrison Keillor

Every day is labor day for those who search to relieve our dependence on Middle East and South American oil.  As northern fields off the Alaskan coast age, a new ocean field is being drilled.  The setting is the Gulf of Mexico. 

This article provides insight into the fascinating work that is currently underway.

I've always felt that rebuilding New Orleans should be the responsibility of those who would most profit from it's rebirth:  the oil and entertainment industries -- not the government or taxpayers. 

Oh.  And Chevron is U.S. owned.

In my neck o' the woods --

It's so hot......
 
 
The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.

The trees are whistling for the dogs.

The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
 
Hot water now comes out of both taps.

You can make sun tea instantly.

You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
 
 The temperature drops below 95 F (35 C) and you feel a little chilly.
 
You discover that in August it only takes 2 fingers to steer your car.
 
You discover that you can get sunburned through your car window.

You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
 
You break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m.

Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, 'What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?'

You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

The potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
 
Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs.

The cows are giving evaporated milk.

 The Baptists have started sprinkling.
 
 The Methodists are using a wet wash cloth.
 
 The Presbyterians are giving rain checks.
 
 The Catholics are trying to turn wine back into water.

Here's an old classic to set the mood:  

In '007 they took a little trip
Obama and Shill'ry down the mighty Mississip.
They took a bit o' bacon and took a bait of beans
And we caught the lyin' Moonbats in the town of New Orleans.

Forget that the whole region is sinking. 

BO and Shrillary are leading a Democrat backwash to Naw'lins to save the city.   Oh, yeah.

They're gonna plug the dikes with tax dollars, bullion the natural flow of the Mississippi, re-finance flood-plain homes, dump sand dollars to halt impeding Gulf erosion, and levy (levee?) enough funds to float sunken casinos.    

And in their spare time -- they're gonna rebuild bridges, clean up crime on Canal Street, polish brass railings, replant thousand-year old cyprus trees, re-hang the moss, refurbish a Streetcar named Desire, replace flop houses with half-way houses, make cheap wine from stagnant water, exchange every bulldozer for a Cadillac, provide free housing to illegal immigrants in those empty hillside trailer parks, and offer subsidized vacation packages to tourists.

Oh yeah.  Almost forgot. 

And blame Bush for everything: from Luziannah government graft, to Category 5 hurricanes, to Katrina, to sending Col. Jackson to fight the British in 1814, for allowing the French to lay claim to the region in 1718. 

Forget that the whole region is sinking. 

Fill the sink-hole with (you got it--) money!  Specifically taxpayer money. 

**  Such as those ever-caring congress-critters giving themselves NOT a raise, but an "automatic cost of living adjustment."    After they raised minimum wages 70 cents, of course.   The average annual income for congress-critters is now approx. $185,000.   Not bad.  Especially when most of their other expenses are classified as "perks."

**  Older men (such as Herb) who forget that top steps on a ladder aren't. 

**  Folks who cheer when Bonds blasts another one outta the park.  And I don't even watch baseball 'cept during the playoffs.  And if the Yankees aren't playing, I don't even watch then.  I just don't care for Barry Bonds.  On or off steroids.

** Like NOT banning all products made in China until those screw-heads stop poisoning U.S. pets and children. 

** Politics.  Especially not participating in any more debates.  BO has given himself a nice exit excuse:  he's going back to "doing the job" he was elected to do .....

There oughta be a law that members of congress who run for a higher office should resign their seats.  Let's see how many REALLY wanna put their annual  "automatic cost of living adjustment" incomes on the line.

**  Be-littling ole FRED! for wearing expensive shoes on a <ahem> non-political poli-stumpin' golf cart ride through the Iowa fairgrounds. 

Shoes??? 

The way ole FRED! looks, he shoulda stayed home in his bedroom slippers.   The man is sick, I tell ya.  Sick. 

And then Jeri dresses him in that polo shirt with his man-boobies bouncing in the hot sun.   Not pretty.  Sad, actually. 

::::shaking head :::::   The man is too sick to be in this race. 

** Such as allowing an illegal immigrant to leave her sanctuary to protest illegal immigration. 

Why not arrest the woman as soon as she steps outside the hole she's been hiding in ..... Call it "Groundhag Day."

** Let the Chinese and Spanish North American Union financiers replace the MN bridge that collapsed .....

Why use taxpayers' money to replace a bridge on the designated SuperHighway route between Mexico and Canada?

** Will the GOP recruit Sandy "Burglar" Berger to steal docs from the "First Lady's Archives" that Shillary won't release from Bill's Internationally-funded Presidential Library?   Whoever heard of a First Lady needing to "close" an archive -- must less having one, anyway??!!  

Must be some powerful anti-Hillary info in those files .... Will the Swift Boat Vets jump ship and join an "Open-the-Archives-Truth Barge"?

** If Ron Paul were to withdraw from the race for the Presidency, would his supporters roll up their bed-sheet banners and (please) go home?  Unlikely.  They're a lot like a bad case of poison oak:  the more you scratch, the more it spreads. 

** The same can be said for Huckabuck and Brownpuck.  Take down the tents, boys.  The revival is moving to the next county.  How about century?

** And what did Kathy Lee actually do to be criticized for leaving the Regis and Kathy Lee Show?   Wasn't that what her critics wanted?  She deserves to live her life in privacy (which she did when she left to care for a parent with Alzheimer's.)   Why not include her in the reunion show?   Heck --- bring her back and call it ANOTHER VIEW: Regis and Joy and Kelly and Kathy Lee.  

Their multitude of fans can listen again to a whiney, wimpy, hen-pecked radio announcer vent about his wife and daughter while jousting with an intellectually inferior ex-soap opera diva (married to a hunk, btw) and his former songstress-partner who will once again entertain us with stories  of the cutsie antics of her two children and a beloved (though once-wayward) hubbie who managed to advance from the football field to the broadcast booth without a trace of the ravages of steroids. 

**  I think it's wonderful that Carl Rove has resigned from public service.  Or whatever you call his advisory role to the President.  He deserves a break after almost single-handedly out-witting every dhimmocrat in congress for the last 8 years or so. 

Can't wait to see who the libs will label as the next GOP fall-guy .... GWB is not up for reelection .... Tony Snow will leave soon ....  I suggest they consider some totally ineffective Republican operative such as that idiot from SC .... what's his name?  Graham.  Lindsay.   Ole Lindsay will be a much easier frog-marching target than, for example, Mitt Romney.   I'm fairly confident that any bashing of Mitt will be done from a safe distance.  One hapless media-mutt was enough to prove that cool and competent Mitt can swiftly become a Stormun' Mormon when confronted.

** My bad or whut? 

Mitt Romney continues to demonstrate his command of the issues.  Observers credit his personal and professional credentials as well as his organizational prowess.

I've referred to him as the consummate candidate.  MM's 2-part interview illustrates why.