Barnabus1's Blog

The man says, "A hamburger, fries and a coke," and turns
to the ostrich, "What's yours?"

"I'll have the same," says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order
"That will be $9.40 please," and the man reaches into
his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the
man says, "A hamburger, fries and a coke."

The ostrich says, "I'll have the same."

Again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with
exact change.

This becomes routine until the two enter again. "The
usual?" asks the waitress.

"No, this is Friday night, so I will have a steak, baked
potato and a salad," says the man.

"Same," says the ostrich..

Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, "That
will be $32.62."

Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his
pocket and places it on the table.

The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer.
"Excuse me, sir. How do you manage to always come up
with the exact change in your pocket every time?"

"Well," says the man, "several years ago I was cleaning
the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it, a
Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish
was that if I ever had to pay for any thing, I would
just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of
money would always be there."

"That's brilliant!" says the waitress. "Most people
would ask for a million dollars or something, but you'll
always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!"

"That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls
Royce, the exact money is always there," says the man.

The waitress asks, "What's with the ostrich?"

The man sighs, pauses and answers, "My second wish was
for a tall chick with a big butt and long legs who agrees with everything I say."

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A group of five-year old students are learning to read.
Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said,
"Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!"

After taking a deep breath, the teacher asked..."What did you call it?"

"It's a frickin'elephant! It says so on the picture!"

And so it does...

" A f r i c a n Elephant "

Hooked on phonics! Ain't it wonderful?

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The Sunday school teacher was carefully explaining the story of Elijah the Prophet and the false prophets of Baal. She explained how Elijah built the altar, put wood upon it, cut the steer in pieces, and laid it upon the altar. And then, Elijah commanded the people of God to fill four barrels of water and pour it over the altar. He had them do this four times 'Now, said the teacher, 'can anyone in the class tell me why the Lord would have Elijah pour water over the steer on the altar?'
A little girl in the back of the room started waving her hand, 'I know! I know!' she said, 'To make the gravy!'

LOT'S WIFE

The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, 'My Mummy looked back once, while she was driving,' he announced triumphantly, 'and she turned into a telephone pole!'

GOOD SAMARITAN

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was beaten, robbed and left for dead. She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would catch the drama. Then, she asked the class, 'If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?' A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, 'I think I'd throw up.'

DID NOAH FISH?

A Sunday school teacher asked, 'Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?'
'No,' replied David. 'How could he, with just two worms?'

HIGHER POWER

A Sunday school teacher said to her children, ' We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But, there is a higher power. Can anybody tell me what it is?' One child blurted out, 'Aces!'

MOSES &THE RED SEA

Nine-year-old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. 'Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.' 'Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?' his mother asked. 'Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never
Believe it!'

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible; Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse. Little Rick was excited about the task -- but, he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous.
When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know.'

Church Smiles

There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country. 'Is there anything breakable in here?' asked the postal clerk. 'Only the Ten Commandments,' answered the lady.

Amish Carriage

While driving in Pennsylvania , a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... 'Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass.
Caution: Do not step in exhaust.''

The Comforter

Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, 'Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt.' Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about. He said 'Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming.'

Give me a sense of humor, Lord,
Give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some humor out of life,
And pass it on to other folk

==============

Psalm 124:2-3 Had not the Lord been with us- When men rose up against us; then they would have swallowed us alive.

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Backing up Dr. Staninger's theory that Morgellons is manmade is neurologist Dr. Edward L. Spencer MD, who spoke in 2006 to Berkeley City Council Members on behalf of the Community Environmental Advisory Commission (CEAC). He testified:

"There now exists strong data indicating that this disorder is associated with nanotechnology, specifically nano machines in the form of nanofibers. The National Science Foundation (NSF) defines nanofibers as having at least one dimension of 100 nanometer (nm) or less....This fiber did not burn until it has been heated to 1700 degrees F. Compare that with hair, which is easily burned producing a characteristic odor and has a cellular structure. The fibers are shed regularly and some grow to long lengths indicating fiber production in the human body. Dr. Janovy has stated of this blue fiber, 'it has noeukaryotic cells, it has no cell membrane, it is not a parasite, it is not biological, it is a machine.'"

Mark had posted photos on his web site, along with research on the lesions and the hair like multicolored follicle that erupts on unbroken skin, before they denied him further access to the scopes.... This is his web site where he posted pictures, though they are hard to understand.
http://lymebusters.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=research&" title="http://lymebusters.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=research&" target="_blank"http://lymebusters.proboards3...;action=display&threa d=10186&page=7

UPDATE: Morgellons research stopped by Stony Brook.

Just found out (May 8, 2008) that Mark Darrah was informed that he can no longer use the Raman Scopes to research Morgellons at Stony Brook University, New York.

(I wonder who is pulling these strings and why??? possibly because he published photos!!)

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It would be bad enough if ignoring the flu vaccine death was a matter of true incompetence. But more likely it may have been a matter of protection ... for the vaccine makers. After all, why let the cat out of the bag when it's so much easier to just keep quiet?

Vaccine Makers Have ZERO Liability

Most people don't realize that over two decades ago the powerful drug lobby carefully manipulated the U.S. Congress to make it impossible for any U.S. citizen to sue vaccine manufacturers. The only option they have is to use National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which is notoriously difficult -- nearly impossible -- to collect on because they rigged the system.

However, even with these terrible odds of being awarded a settlement, over $1.5 billion has been awarded to families of injured or killed children.

Why Children Should Not Receive Flu Vaccines

It's the middle of the summer in the United States, and I know the last thing on most people's mind is flu season. But this tragic story deserves some attention. This child reportedly had a mitochondrial disorder, a condition that may affect up to 1 in 50 children. So it's not a rare disorder by any means.

These disorders are the same ones that the U.S. government conceded may be aggravated by vaccines to the extent that it causes autism.

Flu Vaccines Are Recommended EVERY YEAR

You might not realize this but these ineffective and potentially life-threatening vaccines are recommended to be given to children and adults not once, not twice, not even three times, but EVERY year. Pure insanity considering they don't even work.

Even if the flu vaccine DID prevent getting the flu, there have been several examples in past years where government health officials have totally missed choosing the correct influenza strains circulating in the U.S.. In 2004, the National Vaccine Information Center described how CDC officials told everyone to line up for a flu shot that didn't even contain the influenza strain causing most of the flu that year.

Flu vaccines, meanwhile, are one of the vaccines that still contain mercury. The majority of flu shots actually contain 25 micrograms of mercury, an amount considered unsafe for anyone weighing less than 550 pounds.

By now, most people are well aware that children and fetuses are most at risk of damage from this neurotoxin, as their brains are still developing. Yet, the CDC recommends that children over 6 months and pregnant women receive the vaccine each year. Clearly, something doesn't add up here.

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They were also puzzled because the preacher had never given any indication that he particularly liked either one of them.

Finally, the Lawyer asked, "Preacher, why did you ask the two of us to come?"

The old preacher mustered up some strength, then said weakly, "Jesus died between two thieves, and that's how I want to go, too."

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As the hypnotic mantra of "change" is repeated endlessly, few people even raise the question of whether what few specifics we hear represent any real change, much less a change for the better.

Raising taxes, increasing government spending and demonizing business? That is straight out of the New Deal of the 1930s.

The New Deal was new then but it is not new now. Moreover, increasing numbers of economists and historians have concluded that New Deal policies are what prolonged the Great Depression.

Putting new restrictions of international trade, in order to save American jobs? That was done by Herbert Hoover, when he signed the Hawley-Smoot tariff when the unemployment rate was 9 percent. The next year the unemployment rate was 16 percent and, before the Great Depression was over, unemployment hit 25 percent.

One of the most naive notions is that politicians are trying to solve the country's problems, just because they say so-- or say so loudly or inspiringly.

Politicians' top priority is to solve their own problem, which is how to get elected and then re-elected. Barack Obama is a politician through and through, even though pretending that he is not is his special strategy to get elected.

Some of his more trusting followers are belatedly discovering that, as he "refines" his position on various issues, now that he has gotten their votes in the Democratic primaries and needs the votes of others in the coming general election.

Perhaps a defining moment in showing Senator Obama's priorities was his declaring, in answer to a question from Charles Gibson, that he was for raising the capital gains tax rate. When Gibson reminded him of the well-documented fact that lower tax rates on capital gains had produced more actual revenue collected from that tax than the higher tax rates had, Obama was unmoved.

The question of how to raise more revenue may be the economic issue but the political issue is whether socking it to "the rich" in the name of "fairness" gains more votes.

Since about half the people in the United States own stocks-- either directly or because their pension funds buy stocks-- socking it to people who earn capital gains is by no means socking it just to "the rich." But, again, that is one of the many facts that don't matter politically.

What matters politically is the image of coming out on the side of "the people" against "the privileged."

If you are a nurse or mechanic who will be depending on your pension to take care of you when you retire-- as Social Security is unlikely to do-- you may not think of yourself as one of the privileged. But unless you connect the dots between capital gains tax rates and your retirement income, you may fall under the spell of the well-honed Obama rhetoric.

Obama is for higher minimum wage rates. Does anyone care what actually happens in countries with higher minimum wage rates? Of course not.

Economists may point to studies done in countries around the world, showing that higher minimum wage rates usually mean higher unemployment rates among lower skilled and less experienced workers.

That's their problem. A politician's problem is how to look like he is for "the poor" and against those who are "exploiting" them. The facts are irrelevant to maintaining that political image.

Nowhere do facts matter less than in foreign policy issues. Nothing is more popular than the notion that you can deal with dangers from other nations by talking with their leaders.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain became enormously popular in the 1930s by sitting down and talking with Hitler, and announcing that their agreement had produced "peace in our time"-- just one year before the most catastrophic war in history began.

Senator Obama may gain similar popularity by advocating similar policies today-- and his political popularity is what it's all about. The consequences for the country come later.

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   Later that day, a college professor comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replies, "I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week."  The professor is very happy and leaves the shop. The next morning when the barber opens his shop, there is a 'thank you' card, & a dozen different books, such as "How to Improve Your Business" & "Becoming More Successful". 

   Then, a Congressman comes in for a haircut, and when he goes to pay 
his bill the barber again replies, "I cannot accept money from you. 
I'm doing community service this week."  The Congressman is very 
happy and leaves the shop. 

The next morning when the barber goes to open up, there are a dozen 
Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut. 

 And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between 
the citizens of our country and the members of our Congress. 

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When it comes to defacing your food supply, you can count on Monsanto to be there front and center. In my estimation they are easily one of the world's most evil companies, and I do not say that lightly.

Monsanto has a long history of fraud and deception. From covering up the toxicity of PCBs and Agent Orange to now producing and patenting GM seeds in an effort to control the world's food supply, this company is lacking in even the tiniest shred of integrity.

So it should come as no surprise that earlier this year The American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, or Afact, came out defending their right to use rBGH. This so-called grass-roots organization even went so far as to try and stop milk labels from being allowed to say they contain "no artificial growth hormone."

Why is this not surprising? Because Afact was organized, marketed and promoted by none other than Monsanto.

"This milk is qualitatively and quantitatively different from natural milk," states Dr. Epstein. "In addition to the issue of increased IGF-1 levels, these differences include:

• Contamination of milk by the GM hormone rBGH
• Contamination by pus and antibiotics resulting from the high incidence of mastitis in rBGH-injected cows
• Contamination with illegal antibiotics and drugs used to treat mastitis and other rBGH-induced disease
• Increased concentration of the thyroid hormone enzyme thyroxin-5'-monodeiodinas e
• Increased concentration of long-chain and decreased concentration of short-chain fatty acids
• A reduction in levels of the milk protein casein."

For starters, Dr. Epstein points out that rBGH milk is "supercharged with high levels of a natural growth factor (IGF-1), excess levels of which have been incriminated as major causes of breast, colon, and prostate cancers."

But that's not all.

"This milk is qualitatively and quantitatively different from natural milk," states Dr. Epstein. "In addition to the issue of increased IGF-1 levels, these differences include:

• Contamination of milk by the GM hormone rBGH
• Contamination by pus and antibiotics resulting from the high incidence of mastitis in rBGH-injected cows
• Contamination with illegal antibiotics and drugs used to treat mastitis and other rBGH-induced disease
• Increased concentration of the thyroid hormone enzyme thyroxin-5'-monodeiodinas e
• Increased concentration of long-chain and decreased concentration of short-chain fatty acids
• A reduction in levels of the milk protein casein."

Are You Drinking rBGH Milk?

You very well may be, as no labels are required. This is despite the fact that nearly every American wants it labeled, but the government, as usual, bowed to industry lobbyists and, amazingly, does not require this on the label.

However, as increasing numbers of people and dairies choose to avoid rBGH, you can find labels that say "rBGH-free" or a similar variation. Organic milk is also rBGH-free.

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117 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

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The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers.

"We're sorry Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper.

"Tell me! Did you find her?!" Wilkens shouted.

The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilkens said, "Give me the bad news first."

The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in Kachemak Bay."

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Wilkens. Swallowing hard, he asked, "What's the good news?"

The trooper continued, "When we pulled her up, she had 12 twenty-five pound king crabs and 6 good-size Dungeness crabs clinging to her."

Stunned, Mr. Wilkens demanded, "If that's the good news, what's the great news?"

The trooper said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow."

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This video is about 2 guys who raised a lion cub until it got too big for them, and they shipped it back to Africa....some years later they went to Africa to see it, but were told the animal would most likely no longer remember them, but it did...and gives them a wonderful  greeting...Have a look!!!  Oh yeah...Snopes says TRUE!!!

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/christ ian.asp" title="http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/christ ian.asp" target="_blank"http://www.snopes.com/photos/...

 

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After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University (1958), he went on to receive his master's in economics from Columbia University (1959) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago (1968).

In the early '60s, Sowell held jobs as an economist with the Department of Labor and AT&T. But his real interest was in teaching and scholarship. In 1965, at Cornell University , he began the first of many professorships. His other teaching assignments include Rutgers University , Amherst University , Brandeis University and the University of California at Los Angeles , where he taught in the early '70s and also from 1984 to 1989.

Sowell has published a large volume of writing. His dozen books, as well as numerous articles and essays, cover a wide range of topics, from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to choosing the right college. Moreover, much of his writing is considered ground-breaking -- work that will outlive the great majority of scholarship done today.

Though Sowell had been a regular contributor to newspapers in the late '70s and early '80s, he did not begin his career as a newspaper columnist until 1984. George F.. Will's writing, says Sowell, proved to him that someone could say something of substance in so short a space (750 words). And besides, writing for the general public enables him to address the heart of issues without the smoke and mirrors that so often accompany academic writing.

In 1990, he won the prestigious Francis Boyer Award, presented by The American Enterprise Institute.

Currently Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford , Calif.

Obama and McCain
Thomas Sowell
Thursday, June 05, 2008

Now that the two parties have finally selected their presidential candidates, it is time for a sober-- if not grim-- assessment of where we are.. Not since 1972 have we been presented with two such painfully inadequate candidates. When election day came that year, I could not bring myself to vote for either George McGovern or Richard Nixon. I stayed home.

This year, none of us has that luxury. While all sorts of gushing is going on in the media, and posturing is going on in politics, the biggest national sponsor of terrorism in the world-- Iran-- is moving step by step toward building a nuclear bomb.

The point when they get that bomb will be the point of no return. Iran 's nuclear bomb will be the terrorists' nuclear bomb-- and they can make 9/11 look like child's play.

All the options that are on the table right now will be swept off the table forever. Our choices will be to give in to whatever the terrorist¢s demand-- however outrageous those demands might be-- or to risk seeing American cities start disappearing in radioactive mushroom clouds.

All the things we are preoccupied with today, from the price of gasoline to health care to global warming, will suddenly no longer matter.

Just as the Nazis did not find it enough to simply kill people in their concentration camps, but had to humiliate and dehumanize them first, so we can expect terrorists with nuclear weapons to both humiliate us and force us to humiliate ourselves, before they finally start killing us.

They have already telegraphed their punches with their sadistic beheadings of innocent civilians, and with the popularity of videotapes of those beheadings in the Middle East .

They have already telegraphed their intention to dictate to us with such things as Osama bin Laden's threats to target those places in America that did not vote the way he prescribed in the 2004 elections. He could not back up those threats then but he may be able to in a very few years.

The terrorists have given us as clear a picture of what they are all about as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis did during the 1930s-- and our 'leaders' and intelligentsia have ignored the warning signs as resolutely as the 'leaders' and intelligentsia of the 1930s downplayed the dangers of Hitler.

We are much like people drifting down the Niagara River , oblivious to the waterfalls up ahead. Once we go over those falls, we cannot come back up again.

What does this have to do with today's presidential candidates? It has everything to do with them.

One of these candidates will determine what we are going to do to stop Iran from going nuclear-- or whether we are going to do anything other than talk, as Western leaders talked in the 1930s.

There is one big difference between now and the 1930s. Although the West's lack of military preparedness and its political irresolution led to three solid years of devastating losses to Nazi Germany and imperial Japan , nevertheless when all the West's industrial and military forces were finally mobilized, the democracies were able to turn the tide and win decisively.

But you cannot lose a nuclear war for three years and then come back.. You cannot even sustain the will to resist for three years when you are first broken down morally by threats and then devastated by nuclear bombs.

Our one window of opportunity to prevent this will occur within the term of whoever becomes President of the United States next January.

At a time like this, we do not have the luxury of waiting for our ideal candidate or of indulging our emotions by voting for some third party candidate to show our displeasure-- at the cost of putting someone in the White House who is not up to the job.

Senator John McCain has been criticized in this column many times. But, when all is said and done, Senator McCain has not spent decades aiding and abetting people who hate America .

On the contrary, he has paid a huge price for resisting our enemies, even when they held him prisoner and tortured him. The choice between him and Barack Obama should be a no-brainer.

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(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.) 
Question: If you could live forever, would you and why? 
Answer: 'I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,' 
-- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest . 

‘Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.' 
--Mariah Carey 

'Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,' 
-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign . 

'I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,' 
-- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward . 

'Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,' 
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington , DC ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,, 

'That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,' 
--A congressional candidate in Texas  . 

'Half this game is ninety percent mental.' 
--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark 

'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.' 
--Al Gore, Vice President 

'I love California I practically grew up in Phoenix ' 
-- Dan Quayle

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Barack Obama just may be the most regretful figure in American politics, no small feat for a freshman senator.

On Wednesday, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said he regretted allowing his young daughters to participate in a family TV interview with "Access Hollywood."

It was an abrupt shift from decision to regret, even for Obama. The family sat down for the interview on July 4, and the first segment ran on July 8. By the next morning, Obama was saying he regretted including his daughters, even before the other two parts of the interview could air.

I'm not sure why. The interview was nothing but happy public relations, revealing that the Obamas enjoy riding bikes together and that the senator isn't a big dessert fan. (Pies are an exception.)

I suppose there may be a handful of humorless activists out there somewhere carping that Obama was "exploiting" his kids for political gain, but that would be an absurd complaint.

The guy is running for president of the United States, for heaven's sake. Family members have been a constant in American politics for a long time. And Obama having his daughters at his side in a puffy little holiday interview should have been no big deal to anyone.

So what jumped out at me was how quickly Obama regretted his decision. And that, in turn, made me wonder how often the senator has regretted other choices. Answer: pretty often. (Googling "Obama" and "regrets" yields more than a million hits.)

In November 2006, Obama said he regretted buying property adjacent to his Chicago home from Tony Rezko, a longtime supporter and big-time fund-raiser who has since been convicted of mail and wire fraud, aiding and abetting bribery and money laundering.

In February 2007, as his presidential campaign was beginning, Obama said he regretted saying that the lives of American soldiers who died fighting in Iraq had been "wasted."

In April 2008, Obama said he regretted his choice of words when he told some well-heeled donors in San Francisco that "bitter" folks in Middle America who have lost economic hope "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."

To be sure, these are choices worth regretting. Anyone can understand why Obama would regret his land deal with a convicted felon. And even liberal Democrats like Obama have been careful not to say American lives have been "wasted" in Iraq, even as they imply the same thing when they dismiss the war effort as corrupt, inept, unnecessary and worse.

Obama's most costly regret, however, may well prove to be his condescending shot at those decent, hardworking Americans he said were desperately clinging to God and guns and bigotry. It was a regret-worthy statement that said volumes about Obama's easy contempt for those in what elites call "flyover country."

Perhaps the American people are looking for a regretful guy this time around. After eight years of George W. Bush, whose dogged lack of regrets continues to exasperate his critics, perhaps this sort of intense self-scrutiny and navel-gazing will translate into electoral victory.

But I'm not so sure. After all, a lot of Americans understand that you don't get a bunch of easy do-overs in the Oval Office. You have to make tough calls, even when they may be politically costly.

I can't help wondering what Obama might regret in four years as president. What might he regret doing -- or not doing -- on the world stage? What might he regret saying -- or not saying -- to Putin or Kim Jong-il or Ahmadinejad?

Only time will tell. Depending on what happens in November, we may begin to find out next January. When we do, some voters may well have regrets of their own.