What a SHOCK?
Who has NOT seen this coming?
ABC in the Obama TANK?
How does this ominous tide get turned? BOYCOTT of course … not of ABC itself but its sponsors.
What do these companies ALL UNDERSTAND? Cut in bottom line PROFIT!

From Matt Drudge on June 16, 2009 08:45:10 ET

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care — a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special — ‘Prescription for America’ — originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.

Late Monday night, Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay fired off a complaint to the head of ABCNEWS:

Dear Mr. Westin:

As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC’s astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue on June 24, 2009. Next Wednesday, ABC News will air a primetime health care reform “town hall” at the White House with President Barack Obama. In addition, according to an ABC News report, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, WORLD NEWS, NIGHTLINE and ABC’s web news “will all feature special programming on the president’s health care agenda.” This does not include the promotion, over the next 9 days, the president’s health care agenda will receive on ABC News programming.

Today, the Republican National Committee requested an opportunity to add our Party’s views to those of the President’s to ensure that all sides of the health care reform debate are presented. Our request was rejected. I believe that the President should have the ability to speak directly to the America people. However, I find it outrageous that ABC would prohibit our Party’s opposing thoughts and ideas from this national debate, which affects millions of ABC viewers.

In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime. The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

Respectfully,
Ken McKay
Republican National Committee
Chief of Staff

MORE

ABCNEWS Senior Vice President Kerry Smith on Tuesday responded to the RNC complaint, saying it contained ‘false premises’:

“ABCNEWS prides itself on covering all sides of important issues and asking direct questions of all newsmakers — of all political persuasions — even when others have taken a more partisan approach and even in the face of criticism from extremes on both ends of the political spectrum. ABCNEWS is looking for the most thoughtful and diverse voices on this issue.

“ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience.”

As I watched the Iranian election protest unfold and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad run off to Russia to swap spit with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this relationship struck me as quite odd. In fact it reminded me of a relationship long ago in a place far away called Michigan.

We had a new kid move into the neighborhood and he quickly commenced to brag to all the girls how tough and worthy he was. He had this snarl and wicked demeanor that was a warning to all males to back off or else. His curly wild hair and scraggly facial hair only added to the image he was so careful to cultivate. He never bothered me so I gave the guy a pass. Something always bothered me though, the guy was skinny and although somewhat athletic in a street fight quickness, endurance and strength rule the day. He was so skinny almost to the point of being frail. I thought to myself no way if this dude ever gets into a fight will he win. I just ignored him and he ignored me.

But unfortunately for him he didn’t ignore everyone else. He began confronting weaker students in a typical bulling pattern. Soon he befriended some of the students. I knew these guys he was “friends” with better than he did. Mostly very nice somewhat stupid teenage young men. And with all teenage guys they like a good fight. So the guys treated Russ like a prize fighter. Fawning attention on him, going to parties with him, but never really accepting him. To them, several IQ points higher than Russ, he was the flavor of the month and if they could get a good fight out of him at parties once in awhile it would all be worth the hassle of having the belligerent asshole around. And that opportunity came.

Ron was a peaceful sort of guy. Big, strong with a very mild mannered disposition. A very nice and well respected young man. The perfect sort of guy that a bully would want to take advantage of and show his fellow classmates what a stud he was plunking the big guy.

And so the stage was set. Russ and his “friends” arrive at the party looking to get drunk, fight and possibly score. Russ feeling full of himself looks over Ron and decides to show all his classmates what a tough guy he is. He provokes Ron who ignores him. More provocation and still Ron ignores him. Finally Russ crosses the line and shoves Ron then swings at him missing wildly. Bad decision. Ron stands there unmoved looking at Russ. Left, right, left and then the blows soon connect. The slender Russ falls on his back. Not content to let it end there Ron easily holds Russ down and pummels his face black and blue in front of all the other “A” list students. It was a huge ass whipping and after it was over no one wanted to be seen with Russ. His face was a mess for a month.

Russ’s friends distanced themselves and laugh about it for months. They got their entertainment and moved on to bigger and better things. Russ never recovered from his humiliation and completed high school with a whimper. His friends went on to become very successful in all walks of life. It pays to have superior IQ and stupid friends who will do your dirty work.

And so it is this relationship between Iran and Russia. Russia sells Iran arms and technology, encourages them to attack Israel, all the while keeping their distance. Russia knows Israel will destroy Iran. So why keep encouraging the idiots to pursue a policy of national suicide?

Iran is like pathetic Russ frail, looking to be the local bully, willing to pay money to be with Russia. Iran buys arms and weapons, incites hatred, scares weaker countries, and still they are nothing but a frail weak pathetic kid just looking for an ass whipping. And if they keep looking there are going to find that ass whipping along with a few of their neighbors in the Middle East.

Now with Israelis history, with the Jews history, with 80 or more nuclear bombs fueled, in hardened underground silos ready to go what do you think will happen if Iran nukes Israel? Iran might get off one but Israel will get off 10? 20? All of them? Will Russia throw in a few for free? Every city of any note in Iran will be destroyed. It will make Hiroshima seem like a warm up. And in the aftermath Israel will be vulnerable to attacf from its neighbors. A few more nukes in Syria, southern Lebanon, Saudi Arabia? Israel or what remains of it will be more determined than ever before to survive. No one who is a enemy of Israel will be spared. No quarter.

And where would a Iranian ass whipping leave Russia? In a better position to exploit gas and oil reserves. Without Iran the price of oil goes up. Russia is a huge winner. And like Russ losing everything and his friends going on to prosper so Russia hopes it is with its relationship with Iran.

The people of Iran seem to understand their leadership is on a path to destruction. May god be with them in their efforts to change their leadership.

Read More……

Ian Kelly State Department spokesman said the United States was “deeply troubled” by the reports of violence and arrests in Iran brought on by their recent election BUT the U.S. knows too little about the conduct of the election to say for sure whether there was fraud.

What? Apparently the State Department does not want to cast the first stone since here in the US … ACORN (and how many more we have yet to discover) appears to be up to its eyeballs in voter fraud?

We the people are not STUPID!
Both sides of the isle are starting to say STOP THE DAMN TRAIN! … we are not getting off WE ARE GOING TO toss those in Washington off if they do not choose to listen and do their JOB. A job incidentally they are far to highly paid to do … that job is GOVERN BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE!

Nancy Armstrong is a disenfranchised Democrat.
Like many of us she has said WAIT A DAMN MINUTE … who is in charge here? She has joined the blogging community and is letting her VOICE BE HEARD.
You can visit her blog at:
http://msplaceddemocrat.com/
BRAVO!

Nancy is a Navy veteran of 13 years, a loyal PATRIOT and a “Domestic Terrorist” … so deemed by the left and right wingnuts who think they control the government.

Here is the key folks … WE THE PEOPLE are not defined by these seemingly brainless dolts. THEY WILL join us or THEY WILL be pushed off the bandwagon FACE DOWN IN THE MUCK AND MIRE OF THEIR OWN MAKING.

Right now the Republicans HAVE NO LEADER.
Why? Because EVERYONE with political aspirations are GUTLESS … they are putting their own personal agenda over the good of this country. The Democrats? … they escape nothing … they have been morally and ethically bankrupt for YEARS. Starting with Ted Kennedy who drove a young woman to her death and ran from the scene. What a poor excuse piece of humanity he is and this morally bankrupt person has been a prominent person in our governmental system for years.
HOW UTTERLY STUPID IS THAT?

As the previous foutainheadzero post points out most secessionists of “reputable” note including Wall Street Journal writer Paul Starobin and former KGB operative Igor Panarin predict a regional break up of the United States. But in the real world looking at national secession movements throughout history including the most recent break up of the USSR this makes no sense what so ever. When people split apart the first thing they look for in their new country are people like them. That would be Homogeneous people who share the same beliefs and values not more of the same political strife and division under the old regime.

Looking at the WSJ map by Mr. Starobin the Michigan, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan and Minnesota are all grouped together. I grew up there and still visit whenever I can. That isn’t going to happen. People outside of Flint, Detroit, Pontiac and Benton Harbor despise the thugs in those parts of the state. Year after year unions and city politics divide the state. No way in hell will the people of Michigan or Wisconsin, Minnesota or the Upper Peninsula want anything to do with Detroit. Period. The whole idea of prosperity for generations of Michiganders has been to make enough money to get away from Detroit, Flint, East Lansing and other areas of third world conditions. To break up and then have a repeat of the old political divisions makes NO SENSE at all. To put it bluntly the 70’s bussing movement and integration efforts were a colossal failure in Michigan and it had the opposite affect on the people. The rest of Michigan will pay Canada to take over Detroit before they allow them to be a part of a new country.

Another thing Mr. Starobin and Mr. Panarin conveniently forget is the federal government has the best military in the world. To put it bluntly they have all the guns. And how do we dissolve that military? Split it up according to regional governments? I don’t think so. Anyone who is a student of Roman history knows the history is full of civil war between competing armies with split allegiances. Julius César leading the most notable and famous upsurge. Dividing the country up into small somewhat equal parts would be an invite to war between the parts looking to establish dominance. The Romans suffered years of civil war and destruction. The United States needs to avoid that fate.

The military budget is $515 billion. Any secession movement needs to form a country big enough to pay that bill. Soon Washington will be broke. As Frederic II said “an army, like a serpent, travels on its belly.” Texas can’t pay the bill alone. The military is priority one for the new government and paying for it will require millions of our most productive citizens. Citizens from Texas to California. From California to North Carolina.

The most logical dissolution of the United States is one based on common homogeneous ideas of freedom and liberty with traditional values. The most logical dissolution of the United States is based on red counties. That is the true split between Americans. The fly over states are being dominated in elections by big cities. It’s that simple. Look at the election map by counties. The sane majority is now the minority. Negros vote 95% democrat. Hispanics 65% democrat. Asians 62% democrat. Jews 78% democrat as well as contributing massive amounts of money towards the goal of highly centralized governments. All groups highly represented in high density urban areas. Let these people have their own government and set the remainder of the United States citizens be free under a constitution that reflect the original constitution of our founding fathers.

Texas is the natural leader for the right to have the new capital in Crawford, Texas. After all Bush set up Obama for this colossal failure so why not honor the guy. That $700 billion bail out was the impetus for this new revolution. Don’t know if the guy was smart enough to see the consequences of his actions but everyone else paying attention sure did.

Texas needs to print a currency based on the gold standard of old. Provide a constitution with the Fair Tax, limited government, and limited taxation at the federal level, no interference in education or private markets at the federal level. Texas needs to create the freest most libertarian constitution ever created or add amendments to our original constitution and let the states decide. Let the counties decide. Any neighboring county to the new union should be allowed to join with open arms. Hopeful the new union will look like the red county election map. The deposits can have their areas to for dictatorships isolated and alone. Or they can accept the principals of limited taxation, freedom and liberty. Their choice.

The America’s Independence Day Tea Party Movement is a nationwide protest forum for any and all groups and individuals dissatisfied with the current governance of the United States, regardless of ideology, partisan identity, or political affiliation.

While we may disagree on the solution, on July 4th, 2009 we will come together as Americans to peacefully express our dissent from the current political status quo. We are individuals of all ages, sexual orientation, creed, color, rank and file with a common message: We are sick and tired of our out of control government and we don’t trust the major parties in Washington DC to bring real changes. We are demanding that our representatives uphold their oath to defend and protect the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.

More than anyone in the world, the American people understand our inalienable rights:
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
On July 4th, 2009, let’s Re-Declare them!

As I reported months ago and Arthur Laffer just recently in the Wall Street Journal our monetary base has exploded to unprecedented proportions. What does this mean? What it means is the dogs of inflation will plague the United States in the very near future. How much inflation depends on the Federal Reserve.

How bad can inflation get? Inflation brought down Rome. Inflation propelled Hitler into power. Inflation made Jimmy Carter a one term president. Inflation can bring down the United States.

How? People like to get paid in “real” money not monopoly money. When someone works 40 hours a week they want to be assured at the end of the week a gallon of gas will be $2.50 not $3.00. And so it goes for the other items. If the worker doesn’t get paid correctly the worker will demand higher wages. And we get cost push inflation of the 70’s.

And what of hyper inflation? If we get hyper inflation of 50% or more per year it will be devastation to our economy and personal lives. Looking at the monetary base increase over 110% is hyper inflation possible? Damn right it’s possible. Will it happen? Can somebody shove a boot up Obama’s ass? If Obama health care, cap and trade and other asinine programs are passed yea we will be unemployed and our money worthless. Can the adults take control of Washington? Highly doubtful since both partie s support this dictatorship.

Where does that leave the succession movement? If Texas can create a currency backed by gold or some other instrument in defiance of the Imperial Federal Government and gain acceptance for the currency in its home state Texas the Texas economy will expand exponentially while the rest of the nation suffers under the ravages of a politically motivated Federal Reserve. And that is the first step to a successful succession from the fascist in Washington. A viable home currency while the rest of the nation flounders in unemployment and inflation would create a beacon of hope and prosperity for the rest of America.

A look at the first civil war shows this relationship perfectly. As the confederacy began losing battles their currency declined, foreign countries failed to back them, and it was all over financially. The same principals apply except economically. If the Federal Reserve isn’t going to render its citizens a viable currency then secession minded states like Texas need to fill that void. And secession becomes viable.

Texas needs to plan this move, get layers in place to blow off the law suits and ligation, then do it and never look back. Other states will join Texas. When the states that don’t want to be a part of the fascist inflationary number 30 or 40 Texas can dictate to Washington the terms of surrender. And praise be to god never a shot fired. Change.

A Review of the book:

United In Hate — The Left’s Romance With Tyranny and Terror is a book that examines the seamy underbelly of the radical Left which considers Western society and its values an anathema. Dr. Jamie Glazov, the Managing Editor of FrontPage Magazine, methodically details the causational factors that have lead modern Leftists to adhere to the death and destruction mantra of tyrannical Islamic Jihadists.

The Twin Towers are destroyed, 2973 people die in the attack and the radical Left cheers; the war in Iraq is won and the Left expels a disgusted sigh; totalitarian thugs kill innocent millions that the Left justifies as a “cleansing” required to forge a utopian society; suicidal Jihadists shred shoppers in malls with nail bombs and are excused by the Left as door-matted victims striking back at their oppressors; women are vilified, stoned, mutilated and killed by radical Muslims as Leftist feminists remain silent, save here in America where they rail mightily against a country club that’s denied membership to a female executive.

What draws Leftists moth-like toward the annihilating fires of unbridled totalitarianism, or drives them to slavishly worship at the feet of dictators that kick them to the curb when they are considered no longer useful? Why does the Left cleave to a radical Islamic terrorism that vows to destroy all non-believers, including them? Dr. Glazov answers these and other “head scratching” questions in a court-ready presentation of the Left’s mindset that will make forensic psychologists proud.

The Left’s hatred and rejection of Western civilization, its freedoms and values, begins with an acute sense of alienation from it, and unable to “fit in” the Left believes radical societal change, regardless of the consequences, is necessary. After all it’s the West’s fault that the Left has no sense of purpose or direction. Although the Left vehemently argues against this premise, its words and actions prove Dr. Glazov’s case.

The ideological descendents of the communist/progressive Left that spent its capital hoping the West would lose the Cold War to the Soviet Union are today’s leftist core. Based on their hatred for the United States, the Left has forged a symbiotic relationship with radical Islam, whose hatred for America equals theirs. Both make it clear that they consider Western civilization evil and unworthy of preservation. Violent revolution is the Left’s path to change; the Jihadists’ follow the path of war and annilation.

Some might think Dr. Glazov has taken a wrong turn in his analysis of the radical Left’s agenda and beliefs. If so, they should read the scurrilous quotes of Michael Moore extolling the virtues of the “Iraqi freedom fighters,” or Ward Churchill’s and Jeremiah Wright’s crowing after 9/11 that “America’s chickens have come home to roost.” Or, they should examine the genuflexing before the world’s tyrants by the likes of Jimmy Carter, Sean Penn and Tom Hayden. Dr. Glazov’s take on the radical Left is correct and as sharp as a tightly focused laser.

Should the book cause even one radical Leftist to re-examine his or her contorted beliefs and return from the “dark side,” Dr. Glazov’s efforts will be a resounding success. A great thought provoking read!

Ben R. Furman
Former FBI Counterterrorism Chief
www.blackhawkpress.com
www.blackhawkpress.com/blog
You can get the book at:
United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny and Terror

The unprecedented expansion of the money supply could make the ’70s look benign.
By ARTHUR B. LAFFER

Rahm Emanuel was only giving voice to widespread political wisdom when he said that a crisis should never be “wasted.” Crises enable vastly accelerated political agendas and initiatives scarcely conceivable under calmer circumstances. So it goes now.

Here we stand more than a year into a grave economic crisis with a projected budget deficit of 13% of GDP. That’s more than twice the size of the next largest deficit since World War II. And this projected deficit is the culmination of a year when the federal government, at taxpayers’ expense, acquired enormous stakes in the banking, auto, mortgage, health-care and insurance industries.

With the crisis, the ill-conceived government reactions, and the ensuing economic downturn, the unfunded liabilities of federal programs — such as Social Security, civil-service and military pensions, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, Medicare and Medicaid — are over the $100 trillion mark. With U.S. GDP and federal tax receipts at about $14 trillion and $2.4 trillion respectively, such a debt all but guarantees higher interest rates, massive tax increases, and partial default on government promises.

But as bad as the fiscal picture is, panic-driven monetary policies portend to have even more dire consequences. We can expect rapidly rising prices and much, much higher interest rates over the next four or five years, and a concomitant deleterious impact on output and employment not unlike the late 1970s.

About eight months ago, starting in early September 2008, the Bernanke Fed did an abrupt about-face and radically increased the monetary base — which is comprised of currency in circulation, member bank reserves held at the Fed, and vault cash — by a little less than $1 trillion. The Fed controls the monetary base 100% and does so by purchasing and selling assets in the open market. By such a radical move, the Fed signaled a 180-degree shift in its focus from an anti-inflation position to an anti-deflation position.

The percentage increase in the monetary base is the largest increase in the past 50 years by a factor of 10 (see chart nearby). It is so far outside the realm of our prior experiential base that historical comparisons are rendered difficult if not meaningless. The currency-in-circulation component of the monetary base — which prior to the expansion had comprised 95% of the monetary base — has risen by a little less than 10%, while bank reserves have increased almost 20-fold. Now the currency-in-circulation component of the monetary base is a smidgen less than 50% of the monetary base. Yikes!

Bank reserves are crucially important because they are the foundation upon which banks are able to expand their liabilities and thereby increase the quantity of money.

Banks are required to hold a certain fraction of their liabilities — demand deposits and other checkable deposits — in reserves held at the Fed or in vault cash. Prior to the huge increase in bank reserves, banks had been constrained from expanding loans by their reserve positions. They weren’t able to inject liquidity into the economy, which had been so desperately needed in response to the liquidity crisis that began in 2007 and continued into 2008. But since last September, all of that has changed. Banks now have huge amounts of excess reserves, enabling them to make lots of net new loans.

The way a bank or the banking system makes new loans is conceptually pretty simple. Banks find an entity that they believe to be credit-worthy that also wants a loan, and in exchange for the new company’s IOU (i.e., loan) the bank opens up a checking account for the customer. For the bank’s sake, the hope is that the interest paid by the borrower more than makes up for the cost and risk of the loan. The recently ballyhooed “stress tests” on banks are nothing more than checking how well a bank can weather differing levels of default risk.

What’s important for the overall economy, however, is how fast these loans are made and how rapidly the quantity of money increases. For our purposes, money is the sum total of all currency in circulation, bank demand deposits, other checkable deposits, and travelers checks (economists call this M1). When reserve constraints on banks are removed, it does take the banks time to make new loans. But given sufficient time, they will make enough new loans until they are once again reserve constrained. The expansion of money, given an increase in the monetary base, is inevitable, and will ultimately result in higher inflation and interest rates. In shorter time frames, the expansion of money can also result in higher stock prices, a weaker currency, and increases in commodity prices such as oil and gold.

At present, banks are doing just what we would expect them to do. They are making new loans and increasing overall bank liabilities (i.e., money). The 12-month growth rate of M1 is now in the 15% range, and close to its highest level in the past half century.

With an increased trust in the overall banking system, the panic demand for money has begun to and should continue to recede. The dramatic drop in output and employment in the U.S. economy will also reduce the demand for money. Reduced demand for money combined with rapid growth in money is a surefire recipe for inflation and higher interest rates. The higher interest rates themselves will also further reduce the demand for money, thereby exacerbating inflationary pressures. It’s a catch-22.

It’s difficult to estimate the magnitude of the inflationary and interest-rate consequences of the Fed’s actions because, frankly, we haven’t ever seen anything like this in the U.S. To date what’s happened is potentially far more inflationary than were the monetary policies of the 1970s, when the prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% and inflation peaked in the low double digits. Gold prices went from $35 per ounce to $850 per ounce, and the dollar collapsed on the foreign exchanges. It wasn’t a pretty picture.

Now the Fed can, and I believe should, do what it must to mitigate the inevitable consequences of its unwarranted increase in the monetary base. It should contract the monetary base back to where it otherwise would have been, plus a slight increase geared toward economic expansion. Absent this major contraction in the monetary base, the Fed should increase reserve requirements on member banks to absorb the excess reserves. Given that banks are now paid interest on their reserves and short-term rates are very low, raising reserve requirements should not exact too much of a penalty on the banking system, and the long-term gains of the lessened inflation would many times over warrant whatever short-term costs there might be.

Alas, I doubt very much that the Fed will do what is necessary to guard against future inflation and higher interest rates. If the Fed were to reduce the monetary base by $1 trillion, it would need to sell a net $1 trillion in bonds. This would put the Fed in direct competition with Treasury’s planned issuance of about $2 trillion worth of bonds over the coming 12 months. Failed auctions would become the norm and bond prices would tumble, reflecting a massive oversupply of government bonds.

In addition, a rapid contraction of the monetary base as I propose would cause a contraction in bank lending, or at best limited expansion. This is exactly what happened in 2000 and 2001 when the Fed contracted the monetary base the last time. The economy quickly dipped into recession. While the short-term pain of a deepened recession is quite sharp, the long-term consequences of double-digit inflation are devastating. For Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke it’s a Hobson’s choice. For me the issue is how to protect assets for my grandchildren.

Mr. Laffer is the chairman of Laffer Associates and co-author of “The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy — If We Let It Happen” (Threshold, 2008).

Please add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum.

1. Freeze federal spending.
2. Freeze new legislation.
3. Cut corporate taxes to 25%.
4. Cut payroll taxes 50% for 1 year.
5. Cut capital gains taxes to 10%.
6. Fire David Axelrod and Rod Emanuel.
7. Tell China to support a coup in North Korea.
8. Support the removal of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
9. Support the removal of Harry Reid as Senate leader.
10. Resign and go back to college and take some economic classes.

I got this in the mail today … loved it!
It certainly expresses what most people who have “common sense” and at least 3 brain cells firing at one time think.

It is refreshing to see everyone in Chicago IS NOT A CROOK or THINKS LIKE A CORRUPT POLITICIAN.

Some of the latest creative signage of the Chicago revolt.

OH WAIT! Did I notice any of this being displayed on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, or MSNBC? … WHAT WAS THAT A 10 DECIBEL NO?

Yeah it was!