One of my guilty pleasures is enjoying the Oscars.  I wouldn't agree with 99% of the artists on display there, but as a pretty typical movie buff, I always get a kick out of the annual love-fest in Hollywood.

This year, not one single American actor won any of the acting awards.  I might be overreaching here, but does it make sense that there wasn't a single American actor in 2007 worthy of an Academy Award?

We frequently talk about our vanishing culture.   The English language, the customs, the American traditions, all slowly evaporating.

It seems to me that realizing that every single acting award at the Oscars went to foreign actors is a pretty compelling sign of the times...

So 6 big mortgage lenders -- Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide, JPMorgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo -- have announced efforts to help borrowers of all loans receive a "mortgage time-out."

These mortgage "pauses" should give every single hard-working, bill-paying American pause.  How did we come to this?   At what point did this proud and resilient country decide it was in our best interests to reward people who find themselves struggling with their bills?

I don't want to sound elitist.  God's been good to me, I make a decent living.  That wasn't always the case.  It seems like only yesterday when I was a kid just starting out in broadcasting making 10-12 thousand dollars a year so I could fulfill my dream to become a radio talk show host.  I was late on car payments, I was late in paying the rent.  At my lowest point, I was so late on my car payment that the guy from the finance company was threatening to come get the car and I borrowed a friend's car while he "hid" mine in his garage.  All these years later, I still get embarrassed just thinking about it.

So where was my "car payment time-out?"    I'm a nice guy, a good person.  Like many, I was driving a car that was over my means.  Instead of a beat-up junker, like I should have been driving, I wanted to have a nicer car and couldn't keep up with the payments on my 10 thousand dollar a year full-time salary.

I'll bet a lot of people would love to be rewarded by some kind of "pause" or "time-out" offering on just about anything.   How about a gas station time-out?  Or a utility pause?

All this talk about the mortgage companies being directed by the Bush Adminstration to try and bail out homeowners reminds me of one giant welfare nanny state.

It's total insanity.

So riddle me this, Batman:   how does MSNBC justify suspending that loose cannon of a political reporter, David Shuster, for asking if Chelsea Clinton is being "pimped out" by the Clinton campaign while completely ignorning the exact same phrase that slimeball Keith Olberman used in describing Gen. David Petraeus

Double standard, anyone?

When Petraeus was addressing Congress last year, the star of MSNBC, Olberman, had this to say about our military commander in Iraq:  "And in pimping General David Petraeus and in the violation of everything this country has been...against for 220 years....."

If "pimping" is such a horrific, suspendable term for the delicate flowers over at MSNBC, when does Olberman's suspension begin? 

And naturally, Hillary revels in playing the victim.   She fired off a letter to the president of NBC News, a sob story if there ever was one ("I became Chelsea's mother long before I ran for any office").

I'm not one of those who ever mocked Chelsea's appearance or took any cheap shots when she was a litltle girl in the White House, like some of my talk radio colleagues did.   But these days, Chelsea is an adult and by representing her mother's campaign, she's playing in the big leagues.

"Pimped out" is hardly a problem.

Gov. Mike Huckabee's folks tell us that the withdrawal of Mitt Romney is a "blessing" for them and that they are "in it for the long haul", which will make the next few weeks quite interesting,  eh?

I can't say that I blame them.  Frankly, I appreciate reading the tea leaves and realizing that getting a ton of delegates is an almost-impossible task - but if I spent millions of my own dollars, as Gov. Romney has done, and invested a non-stop, round-the-clock effort for months and months to campaign for president, I really think I'd have to stay in it until the bitter end. 

Many will say that Gov. Romney did a noble thing in falling on the sword and doing what he feels is best for the Republican Party.  However, you didn't find much of that appreciation at the CPAC convention when he bowed out.   Shock, disappointment, sadness and even anger were the moods expressed by these terrific conservative Republicans.

I'm sure the odds are terrifically against Mike Huckabee getting the nomination -- but kudos to him for staying in the race.  No sense in packing your tent until you actually have to!

So now the new tactic from the McCain haters is to bash his actions as a prisoner of war.

Wow.  I'm starting to get overwhelmed by this anger and contempt towards the likely Republican nominee for president.  Some of the haters are sounding more and more like rabid liberal democrats every day.

A week or so ago, I embarked on a new course:  let's stop beating up any Republican and set our sights on beating Hillary or Obama.  To me, it just doesn't seem very sincere to beat the tar out of one of them -- McCain -- and then pretend that all is forgiven and support him in the general election (something just about every one of the McCain-bashing hosts and pundits will be doing, mark my words).

I'm not backing or supporting McCain, I'm backing my country.  I shouldn't have to explain to anyone what will happen to this wartime country if a Democrat wins.  Democrats are getting a great jump in the process by recording and writing down every word my fellow conservatives are using to hammer John McCain with.  And they will shove those words down our throats when we get closer to November.

I expected to get a lot of angry emails.  I guess I didn't anticipate the dozens of messages from people attacking the fact that McCain was a POW in Vietnam.  Evidently, there are people who believe that he didn't really do anything special, he just "got shot down" and survived the Hanoi Hilton by "using questionable methods."

How ugly.    I never thought any Republican would give Michael Moore or Rosie O'Donnell a run for their money.

Here's a crazy idea:  I believe that any of our men and women who survive the enemy while fighting for our country are heroes.

Sen. McCain might be wrong on a variety of issues.  But let's not make a difficult situation worse by attacking his distinguished military career.

As he said yesterday:  let's just calm down.

Boy, have I been getting walloped these days.  The McCain haters are angry that the "maverick" senator from Arizona is about to become the GOP nominee.

And I can't blame them.

John McCain has created all kinds of heartburn for those of us who have been appalled at his "gang of 14", his past unwillingness to want to seal the border and crack down on illegal immigration, as well as a host of other issues that don't sit well with "movement conservatives."

But last week, I came to the conclusion that it is positively pointless to attempt to sacrifice America and hand any votes over to Democrats because we don't think John McCain is conservative enough to be the next President of the United States.

A lot of my friends and colleagues are in a foul mood over John McCain's Super Tuesday success.  But what should REALLY fire them up is the possibility of a Democrat in the White House in 2009.  And I would respectfully suggest to the "I'll-never-vote-for-McCain" crowd that you are threatening to hand the November election over to the Democrats on a big, fat silver platter.

There are lots of reasons to complain about John McCain's record.   Trouble is, there's no shortage of flaws in Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee's track record, either.  If Gov. Romney is such a conservative, why did Human Events' editors name him one of the 10 biggest RINO's (Republican-in-name-only) in America just two years ago?  They say it was because of his once-stated belief that abortion should be safe and legal to every woman who wants one.  Go to their site, you can check it out yourself.

Wanna talk flaws?  How about Gov. Huckabee and illegal immigration?   Would you consider a man who once compared illegals to slaves brought here in chains from Africa a solid reflection of core conservatism?

We can play this game all day long.  We simply don't have another Ronald Reagan in the hunt.  But we DO have Republicans running for president, every one of whom is a pro-life, pro-family, pro-military individual. 

To say that John McCain is indistinguishable from Hillary or Obama is silly.  And untrue.

To promise to vote for a Democrat, or not vote at all, if we don't get the candidate we want is music to the Democrats' ears.  

And to threaten to "punish" America for nominating a GOP candidate like McCain by hoping that America elects a Democrat for president so that Democrats can take the blame is about as sophomoric as anything I've ever heard.   

If you want to throw a temper tantrum, yell at your dog or something.  Don't help Democrats try and destroy this country.

A successful war is being fought in Iraq.  Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land but the tide is turning.  Thanks to President Bush, the Supreme Court is starting to act like the majority of Americans.  Even smash Hollywood hits like "Juno" are offering a decidedly pro-life message.

While McCain/Feingold is important, isn't the sanctity of life even more so?  Isn't continuing the fight against terror crucial, too?

Swallowing some pride and supporting John McCain will be tough for many Republicans.  But like it or not, in the battle for the country, it's the right thing to do.

And I don't mind getting yelled at by some good people who call themselves conservatives.  I'll take a licking for the good of my country any time.....