Well let’s see. What has our congress been up to? While investigating something that they really have no roll in, we had the preening gasbags calling a couple of American citizens liars and ner-do-wells on national TV. But the preeners couldn’t get to the bottom of who was actually lying. So they did what our constitution calls for; they assumed one or the other was lying and announced it on TV; so much for due process and the presumption of innocence.
Had I been one of the preeners, first, I’d have grown my hair long to hide the lobotomy scar. But not having undergone the required surgery to become a preener, I’d have taken my 15 minutes and said:
Mr. Clemens and Mr. McNamee allow me to apologize to you for the conduct of the other members of this committee. As far as I know, it is not the purpose of this hearing to announce the guilt or believability of either of you here today. You both are private US citizens and the way the committee members have treated you here today is shameful.
Let me assure you that they do not always act this way. If it weren’t for Mr. Clemens’ appearance here today in front of the three one eyed monsters – the TV cameras – half of these gasbags wouldn’t have even bothered to show up. It is the sad habit of people of no particular talent or accomplishment to dump on those with talent and who have accomplished something. And if the no talent crowd can do that dumping on national TV, it’s all the better.
While these preening gasbags, whose collective knowledge of the game you two participate in is probably less than my 11 year old son's, sit here feigning high dudgeon about…what? Here’s what else is happening in this building.
The FISA bill that protects Americans from Islamo-terror-fascists is going to lapse. While these losers who think a slider is nothing more than a White Castle hamburger, deliver their inane ten second sound bites to cameras for the local six o’clock news, the law that allows US intelligence to gather information on the people who spend every waking minute plotting to destroy us, is set to expire.
Now why is that law going to be allowed to expire? Well after 9-11 the president asked the telecom companies to cooperate with the federal government in trying to prevent another attack. The telecom companies, thinking it was patriotic duty to help their country protect their fellow citizens, complied. Now lawyers who want to sue the telecom companies for violating the privacy rights of their customers, have donated 23 million dollars to one of the political parties. That money was donated by trial lawyers to ensure that the telecom companies do not get immunity for their cooperation with the government’s request after 9-11.
So America will be essentially blind so that trail lawyers can make gobs of money suing telecom companies for doing what the companies thought was their civic duty while America was under attack. Yet we sit worried about who stuck what into Mr. Cy 7s butt.
And let’s be honest, if Mr. Clemens had won just 77 games over a 4 or 5 year career – as good a record as that might be – he wouldn’t be sitting here right now. So much for another cherished right, equal protection under the law. But, how could any of the losers who comprise this committee look good beating up on an average player.
But Mr. Clemens is Mr. Cy 7. And if the losers can get him in their sights on the six o’clock news, why that would really be something. A know nothing do nothing gasbag dumping on the possibly the greatest pitcher of all time. I would have loved for Mr. Cy 7 to have challenged the members on the committee and their staffs to drug test.
And while we sit here under the glare of the white hot spot light preening for the cameras, looking into something that Mr. Selig, the baseball owners, the union and the justice department ought to be settling, our house colleagues are in a back room resurrecting the illegal alien amnesty bill. Our senate colleagues are rushing a Global Tax bill to the floor without hearings or the even the hint of deliberation. And one old coot of a senator is trying to make a name for himself by attacking the NFL.
I cannot believe that this body has 27% approval rating from our fellow Americans. It ought to be about .27%.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Change, stimulus and lying
Hoping for change
Were I John McCain, I’d hire 10 accountants to follow Barack Obama around and attempt to total up the cost of all the programs and government give-a-ways he proposes. Then once the total is known, a difficult task in that every new group along the campaign trail evokes a new give-a-way, I’d put a per tax payer price tag on it. In a TV ad, I’d have a slow scroll of the programs and their cost with a running total like that deficit counter the MSM always shows when a Rep is in the White House. I’d use the ominous voice over made famous in political ads and ask, “At time of war, can America afford Barack Obama?” Then I’d come up with clever tag line like: John McCain, change we can afford.
Give-a-ways
Speaking of government give-a-ways, the president signed the “stimulus package” yesterday. Woopie! To think, had I worked harder – some would say at all – the government wouldn’t be sending me a check. Of course the government just puts its name on the check. The money is barrowed from China and repaid with interest by the over achievers among us – in this case the over achievers are anyone making over $75,000. Anyway, I will do my patriotic duty and try to find some US manufactured product to spend the money on. Just to piss off the Libs, I may go buy a hand gun.
Who ya going to believe?
The best line in the Roger Clemens Brian McNamee dust up before congress yesterday was when my congressman, a Rep gasbag named Mark Souder, said someone was lying. Duh! It was a room full of politicians.
Were I John McCain, I’d hire 10 accountants to follow Barack Obama around and attempt to total up the cost of all the programs and government give-a-ways he proposes. Then once the total is known, a difficult task in that every new group along the campaign trail evokes a new give-a-way, I’d put a per tax payer price tag on it. In a TV ad, I’d have a slow scroll of the programs and their cost with a running total like that deficit counter the MSM always shows when a Rep is in the White House. I’d use the ominous voice over made famous in political ads and ask, “At time of war, can America afford Barack Obama?” Then I’d come up with clever tag line like: John McCain, change we can afford.
Give-a-ways
Speaking of government give-a-ways, the president signed the “stimulus package” yesterday. Woopie! To think, had I worked harder – some would say at all – the government wouldn’t be sending me a check. Of course the government just puts its name on the check. The money is barrowed from China and repaid with interest by the over achievers among us – in this case the over achievers are anyone making over $75,000. Anyway, I will do my patriotic duty and try to find some US manufactured product to spend the money on. Just to piss off the Libs, I may go buy a hand gun.
Who ya going to believe?
The best line in the Roger Clemens Brian McNamee dust up before congress yesterday was when my congressman, a Rep gasbag named Mark Souder, said someone was lying. Duh! It was a room full of politicians.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Party is a mess!
In case you haven’t noticed, one of our political parties is in a mess. I can hear conservatives across the nation muttering, “Damn right! That (fill in your preferred expletive here) McCain!” But it’s not the Republican Party that’s in a mess; well at least not relative to the other party anyway.
The Dem party is in far worse shape than the Reps. Here’s why.
They have a primary season that looks as if it might not produce a clear winner.
They have an odd thing called the Super Delegate. These are about 800 party potentates and grandees that can act as king maker at the convention because they are not bound to any primary or caucus result. The 800 just vote for which ever candidate promises the most. How un-American can you get? Sure all delegates are equal only some delegates are more equal than others.
They have to at some point deal with MI and FL. The delegates in those two states have been stripped by the party for moving their primaries in front of Super Tuesday. The Shrillda Beast is claiming those delegates because she won the non-primary primary in both states. The only problem is that hers was the only name on the ballet in MI and Mr. Undecided still got over 40% of the vote. In FL candidates agreed not to campaign but the Shrillda held a “victory rally” after the primary – breaking the spirit of the agreement if not the letter.
They have the Clinton war machine that will kick in at minute. Many seem to believe that Obama will be on a 10 state winning streak come the OH TX primaries in Mar. They are beginning to look at Obama as inevitable. But Rush Limbaugh offered this accurate mental picture yesterday, “Until you see her [Shillda's] feet curled up and protruding from beneath a house, don’t count the Clintons out.” The Clintons will kick into high gear very soon begin to try to smear and destroy Obama, which is sure to further fracture the party.
They have the whole identity politics thing to overcome. While it’s perfectly OK for women and blacks to base their votes solely on which candidate looks like them, when white men do the exact same thing they are called misogynistic racists.
As an aside, did you see where Bill Clinton claimed that he’d waited his whole life to vote for a woman or a black for president and now he’s forced to choose between them in the same primary? Poor Billy. Question Bill, if you were so interested in voting for a woman or a black for president, why didn’t you select one as your running mate, ya lying pant load?
By contrast the Reps have identified their candidate early, if not enthusiastically. The conservatives will come home once they begin to realize what the option of not coming home is.
The Dem party is in far worse shape than the Reps. Here’s why.
They have a primary season that looks as if it might not produce a clear winner.
They have an odd thing called the Super Delegate. These are about 800 party potentates and grandees that can act as king maker at the convention because they are not bound to any primary or caucus result. The 800 just vote for which ever candidate promises the most. How un-American can you get? Sure all delegates are equal only some delegates are more equal than others.
They have to at some point deal with MI and FL. The delegates in those two states have been stripped by the party for moving their primaries in front of Super Tuesday. The Shrillda Beast is claiming those delegates because she won the non-primary primary in both states. The only problem is that hers was the only name on the ballet in MI and Mr. Undecided still got over 40% of the vote. In FL candidates agreed not to campaign but the Shrillda held a “victory rally” after the primary – breaking the spirit of the agreement if not the letter.
They have the Clinton war machine that will kick in at minute. Many seem to believe that Obama will be on a 10 state winning streak come the OH TX primaries in Mar. They are beginning to look at Obama as inevitable. But Rush Limbaugh offered this accurate mental picture yesterday, “Until you see her [Shillda's] feet curled up and protruding from beneath a house, don’t count the Clintons out.” The Clintons will kick into high gear very soon begin to try to smear and destroy Obama, which is sure to further fracture the party.
They have the whole identity politics thing to overcome. While it’s perfectly OK for women and blacks to base their votes solely on which candidate looks like them, when white men do the exact same thing they are called misogynistic racists.
As an aside, did you see where Bill Clinton claimed that he’d waited his whole life to vote for a woman or a black for president and now he’s forced to choose between them in the same primary? Poor Billy. Question Bill, if you were so interested in voting for a woman or a black for president, why didn’t you select one as your running mate, ya lying pant load?
By contrast the Reps have identified their candidate early, if not enthusiastically. The conservatives will come home once they begin to realize what the option of not coming home is.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Who is ready to fight the long war?
Well boys and girls, we have good news and we have bad news. First, the good news: Captured al Qaeda letters in Iraq indicate that AQI is on its butt. The London Times notes:
Al Qaeda’s assessment of its own position doesn’t square with Dem House Speaker Nance Pelosi who continues to root for and claim a AQI victory in Iraq – or at least a Bush failure. One can imagine the Speaker on the Phone to her allies in Iraq telling them quit with the negative vibes.
So what’s the bad news? The bad news is that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff notes:
So if you accept the good news, you should probably consider the bad and keep your guard up and the pressure on. Chertoff is right. The Islamo-terror-fascists have long memories and a sense of time that would confound most Americans who get impatient waiting two minutes for microwave popcorn.
By contrast, the ITF are still waiting patiently for an opportunity to avenge the naval defeat and beheading of Muezzenzade Ali Pasha at Lepanto in 1751 by Pope Pius’ boys.
And that is why the right the wing of the Rep Party ought to get over itself and knock off the talk about supporting the Dems in the fall.
I’m sure Barack Obama is a nice guy. That is something that cannot be said about his chief rivals in the Dem and Rep Parties. But he is totally unqualified to lead a nation at war, whether the people of that nation know they are at war or not. His primary strategy in any war situation would be an appeal to “hope and change”. The hope we’d get is that the government will pay for the prayer rugs we’ll all need and the change will be to a Muslim theocracy.
The Shrillda Beast would not be much better. She would be slow to react as she polled and triangulated the most popular position on every issue for her second term and legacy.
McCain is the only one of three that will hit the ITF square in mouth at the first opportunity.
“Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an ‘extraordinary crisis’. Last year's mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military ‘created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight’. The terrorist group's security structure suffered ‘total collapse’.
“These are the words not of al-Qaeda's enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province — once the group's stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November.”
Al Qaeda’s assessment of its own position doesn’t square with Dem House Speaker Nance Pelosi who continues to root for and claim a AQI victory in Iraq – or at least a Bush failure. One can imagine the Speaker on the Phone to her allies in Iraq telling them quit with the negative vibes.
So what’s the bad news? The bad news is that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff notes:
"The great weapon they have is persistence and patience, and the one weakness that we have is the tendency to lose patience and become complacent. It strikes me as hard to accept that anybody would believe the threat is over. There is nothing these terrorists are doing or saying that could lead a reasonable person to believe that they have somehow lost interest. Our biggest challenge is making sure we do not drop our guard because time passes.”
So if you accept the good news, you should probably consider the bad and keep your guard up and the pressure on. Chertoff is right. The Islamo-terror-fascists have long memories and a sense of time that would confound most Americans who get impatient waiting two minutes for microwave popcorn.
By contrast, the ITF are still waiting patiently for an opportunity to avenge the naval defeat and beheading of Muezzenzade Ali Pasha at Lepanto in 1751 by Pope Pius’ boys.
And that is why the right the wing of the Rep Party ought to get over itself and knock off the talk about supporting the Dems in the fall.
I’m sure Barack Obama is a nice guy. That is something that cannot be said about his chief rivals in the Dem and Rep Parties. But he is totally unqualified to lead a nation at war, whether the people of that nation know they are at war or not. His primary strategy in any war situation would be an appeal to “hope and change”. The hope we’d get is that the government will pay for the prayer rugs we’ll all need and the change will be to a Muslim theocracy.
The Shrillda Beast would not be much better. She would be slow to react as she polled and triangulated the most popular position on every issue for her second term and legacy.
McCain is the only one of three that will hit the ITF square in mouth at the first opportunity.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Berkeley sure, but Toledo?
Holy Toledo Batman! Did Mayor Finkbeiner really kick the Marines out of town?
Why yes Robin, Mayor Finkbeiner really did kick the Marines out of town just as the Leathernecks were preparing hone their warfighting skills at Toledo’s Madison Building and the Promenade Park area.
Holy excrement Batman! Couldn’t this type of exercise save Marine lives? Aren’t Finkbeiner and his fellow Democrat weasel pols always telling us how much they support the troops?
Well yes Robin, Finkbeiner and other Dem Pols love to heap praise on the troops and talk about how much they support the troops as long as they don’t actually have to do anything to demonstrate that support.
Holy double talking hypocrisy Batman! Didn’t the city know that the Marines were coming?
Why yes they did Robin. Finkbeiner cancelled the deal at the last minute leaving the Marines holding the bag and costing taxpayer a lot of money.
Holy no good reason Batman! Why?
Well Boy Wonder, it seems hizhonor seems to believe the presence of Marines in his fair city might frighten the citizenry.
Holy a$$backward logic Batman! Aren’t the Marines on our side?
Indeed Robin, they are. And everybody knows that they are, but the mayor needed a fig leaf to cover his stupidity.
Holy over exposure Batman! Is there enough foliage in the Amazon jungle to cover this kind of stupidity?
No Robin, there isn’t.
Holy double dealing reneging bastards Batman! Shouldn’t the federal government sue the city of Toledo for every dime Finkbeiner has cost the tax payer?
Why yes Robin they should. But they won’t.
Holy dilemma Batman! What do we do?
Well Boy wonder I have found the mayor’s e-mail address and sent him an e-mail.
Holy Internet Batman! Can I see the e-mail?
Yes, Robin you may;
If Jihadis come to destroy Toledo, would America be better off? We don't have to answer that question because the USMC will not let that happen. When the Marines find Mayor Finkbeiner crying like a baby,hiding under the bed sheets, soaked in his own urine and shaking like the miserable coward he is, will the mayor thank the Marines? I doubt it. But the Marines won't care as they laugh their collective butts off at another craven politician. They will just mount up, move out and draw fire. Needless to say, I'll be avoiding Toledo and everything produced there until the good people of Toledo have the common sense to can the Fink beiner.
Holy uncivil letter writing campaign Batman! Where do I send my e-mail?
Well Robin, the mayor’s e-mail address can be found here.
Why yes Robin, Mayor Finkbeiner really did kick the Marines out of town just as the Leathernecks were preparing hone their warfighting skills at Toledo’s Madison Building and the Promenade Park area.
Holy excrement Batman! Couldn’t this type of exercise save Marine lives? Aren’t Finkbeiner and his fellow Democrat weasel pols always telling us how much they support the troops?
Well yes Robin, Finkbeiner and other Dem Pols love to heap praise on the troops and talk about how much they support the troops as long as they don’t actually have to do anything to demonstrate that support.
Holy double talking hypocrisy Batman! Didn’t the city know that the Marines were coming?
Why yes they did Robin. Finkbeiner cancelled the deal at the last minute leaving the Marines holding the bag and costing taxpayer a lot of money.
Holy no good reason Batman! Why?
Well Boy Wonder, it seems hizhonor seems to believe the presence of Marines in his fair city might frighten the citizenry.
Holy a$$backward logic Batman! Aren’t the Marines on our side?
Indeed Robin, they are. And everybody knows that they are, but the mayor needed a fig leaf to cover his stupidity.
Holy over exposure Batman! Is there enough foliage in the Amazon jungle to cover this kind of stupidity?
No Robin, there isn’t.
Holy double dealing reneging bastards Batman! Shouldn’t the federal government sue the city of Toledo for every dime Finkbeiner has cost the tax payer?
Why yes Robin they should. But they won’t.
Holy dilemma Batman! What do we do?
Well Boy wonder I have found the mayor’s e-mail address and sent him an e-mail.
Holy Internet Batman! Can I see the e-mail?
Yes, Robin you may;
If Jihadis come to destroy Toledo, would America be better off? We don't have to answer that question because the USMC will not let that happen. When the Marines find Mayor Finkbeiner crying like a baby,hiding under the bed sheets, soaked in his own urine and shaking like the miserable coward he is, will the mayor thank the Marines? I doubt it. But the Marines won't care as they laugh their collective butts off at another craven politician. They will just mount up, move out and draw fire. Needless to say, I'll be avoiding Toledo and everything produced there until the good people of Toledo have the common sense to can the Fink beiner.
Holy uncivil letter writing campaign Batman! Where do I send my e-mail?
Well Robin, the mayor’s e-mail address can be found here.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The Veepstakes
If you look where the Republican candidates won, it was pretty much a regional not nationwide primary. McCain won were you’d expect the Lib to win – the northeast and left coast. To be fair McCain took his home state of AZ albeit with a bit of trouble and the purple state of MO. Huckabee colluded with McCain to rip off WV from the most popular candidate there but other wise was restricted to southern states. Romney took his home state of MA but was otherwise relegated to the upper west and mid west states.
So given that dynamic who are the veep possibilities?
For McCain, Huckabee and Giuliani are probably thinking they are owed something. But neither will bring anything to the ticket that isn’t already there. Giuliani, like McCain, is just another Lib Republican. Rudy will be promised Sec Homeland Security or AG if can deliver something in the northeast and/or Fl in the general. Huckabee’s strength is all in the south. That strength is off-set by the Dem’s weakness in the south. The Dem’s weakness will be compounded with a woman or black man on the ticket. The exact same identity politics that have made Obama and Clinton will further destroy Democrats in the south. So sorry Huck, McCain won’t need you once the nomination is wrapped up. Southern voters will have no place to go but McCain. McCain’s distaste for Romney rules Mitt out of the veepstakes, and let’s face it, the Republican strong hold in the south ain’t crazy about Mormons. Romney ran third in nearly all of the southern states. Romney will work hard for the Rep ticket, might be promised Sec Commerce or Treasury; probably turn it down and go on to make another 800 million dollars in the private sector for another run 2012.
So who then? A Gov or former Gov from someplace where it will help the Electoral vote. In addition, a Gov will give McCain an executive experience lift that he currently lacks and Govs are well vetted proven campaigners. So from the top: 1) Tom Ridge former Gov of PA and Sec of Homeland Security. Ridge could put PA in play and off-set a Dem move on OH or IN. 2) Gov Pawlenty of MN. MN is a purple state that Reps could strip away by putting Pawlenty on the under card. 3) Gov Blunt in MO for the same reason. 4) Long shot, Gov Christ in FL. FL went pretty well for Bush in 2004 so Reps may not need a push there this year.
On the Dem side, the dream ticket of Clinton/Obama is out. Identity politics will dictate that whoever wins, will be forced to bring a white male on the under card. Clinton is in the worst shape. For the Shrillda Beast, the veep nominee is going to have to agree to be the vice-Vice President to Bill. Or is the real VP going to be Shrill? She needs a white male which is going to PO the black vote. She will pick Sen Bahy of IN or what makes more sense is Gov Strickland of OH. There’s a myth that the Shrillda will then need to shore up black vote. That’s only half true. She really only needs to shore up the black vote in the battleground states. The Clintons being Clintons could care less about blacks in states they have no chance of carrying – read the south. Look for Bill to be deployed to every black church in every battleground state the day after the nomination is secure.
For Obama the calculation is about the same. He could bring the Shrillda Beast aboard to gain the Clinton machine, war room and to do the nasty smear work that Obama may not have the stomach for.
I’m off for a couple of days. Cruise the archive. See you Mon.
So given that dynamic who are the veep possibilities?
For McCain, Huckabee and Giuliani are probably thinking they are owed something. But neither will bring anything to the ticket that isn’t already there. Giuliani, like McCain, is just another Lib Republican. Rudy will be promised Sec Homeland Security or AG if can deliver something in the northeast and/or Fl in the general. Huckabee’s strength is all in the south. That strength is off-set by the Dem’s weakness in the south. The Dem’s weakness will be compounded with a woman or black man on the ticket. The exact same identity politics that have made Obama and Clinton will further destroy Democrats in the south. So sorry Huck, McCain won’t need you once the nomination is wrapped up. Southern voters will have no place to go but McCain. McCain’s distaste for Romney rules Mitt out of the veepstakes, and let’s face it, the Republican strong hold in the south ain’t crazy about Mormons. Romney ran third in nearly all of the southern states. Romney will work hard for the Rep ticket, might be promised Sec Commerce or Treasury; probably turn it down and go on to make another 800 million dollars in the private sector for another run 2012.
So who then? A Gov or former Gov from someplace where it will help the Electoral vote. In addition, a Gov will give McCain an executive experience lift that he currently lacks and Govs are well vetted proven campaigners. So from the top: 1) Tom Ridge former Gov of PA and Sec of Homeland Security. Ridge could put PA in play and off-set a Dem move on OH or IN. 2) Gov Pawlenty of MN. MN is a purple state that Reps could strip away by putting Pawlenty on the under card. 3) Gov Blunt in MO for the same reason. 4) Long shot, Gov Christ in FL. FL went pretty well for Bush in 2004 so Reps may not need a push there this year.
On the Dem side, the dream ticket of Clinton/Obama is out. Identity politics will dictate that whoever wins, will be forced to bring a white male on the under card. Clinton is in the worst shape. For the Shrillda Beast, the veep nominee is going to have to agree to be the vice-Vice President to Bill. Or is the real VP going to be Shrill? She needs a white male which is going to PO the black vote. She will pick Sen Bahy of IN or what makes more sense is Gov Strickland of OH. There’s a myth that the Shrillda will then need to shore up black vote. That’s only half true. She really only needs to shore up the black vote in the battleground states. The Clintons being Clintons could care less about blacks in states they have no chance of carrying – read the south. Look for Bill to be deployed to every black church in every battleground state the day after the nomination is secure.
For Obama the calculation is about the same. He could bring the Shrillda Beast aboard to gain the Clinton machine, war room and to do the nasty smear work that Obama may not have the stomach for.
I’m off for a couple of days. Cruise the archive. See you Mon.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
By way of introducing one of the best (which in my mind means funny) sites on the web, I offer this exchange between the Griffin and Lex. The Griffin forwarded to me these directions for the disposal of a fluorescent bulb, with the predictable comment which boiled down to YGBSM.
Fluorescent light bulbs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing. EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines: Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag. Use disposable rubber gloves, if available (i.e., do not use bare hands). Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces. Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.
Note: Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a local recycling center. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.
If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet: First, remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner, following the steps above. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.
Lex responded:
Comrade Rich this easy clean up and disposal mandate by people's government is why the US Central Planning Committee has mandated compact fluorescent lights for all of the people. This simple and cost effective clean up regime makes more sense to Central Planning Committee than just throwing an incandescent bulb in the kitchen garbage and installing a new. We cannot complain comrade. Each Central Planner has received more people's votes than us or our chosen candidate.
Be careful comrade, complain too loudly or to the wrong peoples and the gulag awaits.
And the web site is: http://www.thepeoplescube.com/
The people’s cube icon is a Lib/Socialist’s dream a Rubik’s Cube where all of the sides of the cube are red insuring an equal outcome for everyone who picks it up. This site will become more truth than parody if the Dems get control of both houses of the legislature and the White House.
Check out the – Che is dead. Get over it. T-shirt line.
Fluorescent light bulbs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing. EPA recommends the following clean-up and disposal guidelines: Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag. Use disposable rubber gloves, if available (i.e., do not use bare hands). Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces. Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.
Note: Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a local recycling center. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.
If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet: First, remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner, following the steps above. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.
Lex responded:
Comrade Rich this easy clean up and disposal mandate by people's government is why the US Central Planning Committee has mandated compact fluorescent lights for all of the people. This simple and cost effective clean up regime makes more sense to Central Planning Committee than just throwing an incandescent bulb in the kitchen garbage and installing a new. We cannot complain comrade. Each Central Planner has received more people's votes than us or our chosen candidate.
Be careful comrade, complain too loudly or to the wrong peoples and the gulag awaits.
And the web site is: http://www.thepeoplescube.com/
The people’s cube icon is a Lib/Socialist’s dream a Rubik’s Cube where all of the sides of the cube are red insuring an equal outcome for everyone who picks it up. This site will become more truth than parody if the Dems get control of both houses of the legislature and the White House.
Check out the – Che is dead. Get over it. T-shirt line.
Monday, February 04, 2008
The four MYTHS of St. John
This is by far the longest piece ever to appear on this page. I was going to break it up over four days, but Super Tuesday is tomorrow. So by Wednesday blue blood country club Republicans may have forced the echo know as John McCain on me as their nominee. I always vote my best interest even if it boils down to a choice between Lenin and Marx. So I don’t want to have to be trashing the guy I end up voting for after he’s the nominee. So here are some reasons John McCain shouldn’t be that nominee.
There are four myths surrounding the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Saint John the speech squelcher. All of the myths have been foisted upon us by the MSM.
MYTH 1: McCain is a “straight talker.” He’s decidedly not.
Exhibit one Saint Juan the open borders: McCain sponsored a bill that offered amnesty to between 12-20 million illegals. Yet to this day he denies that his bill was an amnesty. Is that straight talk? His bill allows criminals who entered the country illegally to jump to the head of the immigration line if they pay a $3,000 dollar fine. In addition to clearly being amnesty, the bill amounts to selling American citizenship to people whose first act upon stepping on to American soil was to break our laws. But are we hearing any straight talk from Saint Juan that he’s was wrong on immigration? Now, McCain is such a straight talker he takes both sides of whether or not he’d sign his own amnesty bill if given the chance as president. He told Tim Russert he would. Three days latter at the republican debate, he said he wouldn’t. Any straight talk in that?
Exhibit two St John the class warrior: McCain’s stance that he was against the Bush tax cuts before he wanted to make them permanent isn’t straight talk. How about an, oops I sure blew that one. Instead Saint John the tax cutter enhances his reputation as a twisted talker by misrepresenting – that’s pol talk for lying – how he arrived at his position. When the bill was up for a vote, Saint John the class warrior opposed it because he said the cuts favored the rich. Now Saint John the fiscal hawk says he opposed the cuts - he now favors - because he wanted the cuts off-set with reductions in government spending. Any straight talk in there? How about a question like this from the MSM, let’s assume your class warfare meme didn’t happen and you're telling the truth about opposing the tax cuts because you wanted them off-set with reductions in government spending. What reductions in government spending have occurred since you first opposed the tax cuts to make you favor them now? There is not one straight line in any of it.
Exhibit three St. John the double back flipper: McCain offerd straight talk about the auto industry jobs in Michigan not coming back until voters wanted to hear that they were. “These jobs are gone” was Saint John the flip’s position right up to point that Romney pounced on him saying, we’re going to innovate, we’re going to invest in R&D, we’re going to rely on American ingenuity and we’re going to bring these jobs back. Well when St. John the flipper found himself looking like dower pessimistic dope, he deftly morphed into St. John the flopper and the straight talk express took an unexpected turn down Lombard St. Of course these jobs are coming back, said McCain. Who said they weren’t coming back, asked McCain. Why when I’m president, there will be so many jobs up here that Americans won’t do, we’ll be able to move half of Mexico up to Michigan.
Exhibit four St. John the chicken: Mr. Straight Talk turned down an hour debate on economics with Romney on Meet the Press. Shouldn’t anyone considered to be a “straight talker” have accepted the debate and delivered a bit of straight talk on how he’s not really all that in tune with how economies work? Shouldn’t McCain have gone on MTP and once again hit us with his class warfare meme condemning corporate profits? Isn’t that why St. John the corporate basher only invests in corporations that don’t make a profit? Is that how his wife’s family made all of their money – foregoing profit? Most people have a one word description for McCain’s reticence to appear with Romney to talk economics. That word is “chicken.” Everyone else uses the more colorful compound word variant –chicken$*%#. And that’s the straight talk on that.
Exhibit five St. John the fabricator: McCain’s insistence, in spite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, that Romney supported a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is a lie. That matter is covered in the post below.
MYTH 2: McCain is a conservative. He is not.
Exhibits:
McCain was actually toying with the idea of being John Kerry’s running mate
McCain had several discussions with then Dem senate leader Tom Daschel about switching parties
McCain opposed tax cuts along class warfare lines
McCain/Feingold is a Soviet style assault on the First Amendment
McCain/Kennedy is an amnesty bill for between 12-20 million criminals who have entered the country illegally
McCain/Lieberman is a gift to environmental whackos and global warming worshipers that will tax clean coal technology while inhibiting exploration and utilization of our own abundant energy resources in favor of inefficient and wildly expensive wind, solar and biofuels. St. John the enviro whacko says he’s for the US becoming energy independent. How? We all buy bikes and live in the cold and dark.
McCain refuses to search for oil in the barren Alaskan wasteland known as ANWR. That’s another gift to enviro whackos who, like Mr. Straight Talk, insist on referring to ANWR as a pristine wilderness area. It isn’t. It’s a wasteland.
McCain wants to close G’itmo in favor of bring the worst terrorist in the world to US soil were they would be afforded access to the same legal system that allows double murderers to escape justice in spite of a mountain of evidence against them including a 1 in 100,000,000 DNA match.
McCain insists that he would not "torture" a terrorist even if the terrorist had information regarding the immanent detonation of nuclear devise in a US city. I wonder what his position would be if that city happened to be the one he or one of his loved ones was in.
MYTH 3: McCain is the only Republican candidate that can win the general. He can’t.
McCain is nothing more than a figment of the MSM’s imagination, a carefully constructed Potemkin Village of a strong conservative military war “hero” capable of taking anything the Dems throw at him. But they do not throw anything at him themselves. They worship him. They write glowing stories of his maverick – read anti-conservative – status. Nothing about McCain escapes into the MSM that doesn’t have him walking on water or nobly suffering the slings and arrows of his less worthy conservative tormentors.
All of that will change two seconds after McCain secures the Republican nomination. Then you will see everything contained in MYTHS 1 and 2 along with long stories on all of the following:
McCain is too old. At 71 he’ll be the oldest ever first term president. And while he will point to his 90+ year old mother, the press will point to his father and grandfather both of whom died before the age McCain currently enjoys.
McCain is unstable. All sorts of stories of McCain blowing his top in red faced expletive laced rants directed at senate colleagues and staff will begin to surface. Was the “war hero’s” POW experience – an experience few could endure – just too much?
McCain dumped his sickly first wife who endured five years of her beloved husband being held as a POW for his current younger, more attractive and richer wife.
McCain broke faith with his fellow POWs when he gutted the 1996 Missing Service Personnel Act.
McCain is ripe for former POWs to ask that he open his private POW debriefing file, a request up until now he has refused even though his POW status is key to his ever arriving in Washington DC as an elected official in the first place.
While the disposition of American MIA/POWs was still unknown, Senator
McCain fought for the normalization of relations with Vietnam.
McCain was one of the original Keating five taking sleazy campaign money before making it illegal by destroying the First Amendment.
McCain crashed three navy aircraft – ok one was shot down - that’s not exactly crashing
McCain is a worst kind of flip flopper
- Bush tax cuts: was against them before was for them
- Doesn’t really have a stellar record for demanding a full accounting of his fellow POWs
- McCain/Kennedy: was for it before he was against
- McCain took sleazy campaign money before deciding to make it illegal by trashing the first amendment
- McCain toyed with idea of switching parties
- McCain the hero – see MYTH 4.
The MSM have made John McCain. Two seconds after he has the nomination, they will remake, deconstruct, and destroy him.
Because the Shrillda Beast starts with about a 49% loath rate, McCain, depending upon who he chooses to run with, has about a 50-50 chance at best of beating her. Clinton lies, misstatements and painfully true statements about McCain’s record will have McCain blowing his top two days into the campaign. He can’t beat a young energetic and hopeful Obama.
MYTH 4: McCain is a war hero
This is hard. There are several definitions of what a hero is;
An ideal model based on ideal qualities of character – no that’s not McCain. He’s angry, egotistical, petty, self righteous, sanctimonious, etc.
The central male character of a book, play, movie or novel – no that’s not McCain although a movie about McCain is not out of the question.
A man admired for his nobility, courage and exploits, usually in war – that’s McCain… sort of.
The MSM always uses the modifier “war hero” to introduce McCain. Let’s stipulate that any who serves during a time of war is some kind of hero. That makes McCain one of about 9.2 million military personnel who were on active duty during the Vietnam War.
Further let’s stipulate that anyone actually in the combat zone is some kind of hero. That makes McCain one of about 3.1 million others who served in the actual combat zone during Vietnam.
After that, what is McCain a hero for? He got shot down and endured 5 ½ years as a POW in North Vietnam. Nobel? Yes! The sacrifice and endurance he displayed are remarkable. Courageous? I’m not so sure. He was doing his job, just like the 3.1 million other guys when he was shot down. After that, dare I say, it was in his own best interest to survive.
There is a huge difference between the guy who, through no fault of his own, finds himself trapped in a burning building and by his ingenuity and will to survive guides five people to safety and the guy who leaves the relative safety of the side walk outside the burning building, dashes into the inferno with no regard for his own personal safety and guides people through that inferno to safety. One guy finds himself in a dangerous situation and works for his survival. The other guy voluntarily leaves safety and PLACES HIMSELF in danger for the benefit of others.
Now both of these scenarios become a bit less remarkable when the guys in question happen to be firemen, guys whose job it is to do what they did.
So while McCain’s remarkable story is one of sacrifice and survival, it’s one predicated on McCain as career Naval Aviator doing his job and then surviving all of the nasty consequences.
Contrast that with Sergeant First Class Paul Smith who willingly placed himself and a .50 cal machine gun between his company and about 100 armed attackers. Smith single handedly destroyed the enemy attack and by his actions saved an untold number of his comrades. Smith probably could have laid low and saved his own life. Instead he manned the machine gun and covered his comrades and died for his valor.
Or how about Lt. Michael Murphy who left a covered position of relative safety to dash into the open and into a hail of enemy gunfire to get better reception to call for help for his trapped SEAL team. That’s heroic.
Now, since McCain showed up in the presidential sweepstakes in 2000, I’ve tried to make this case about 10 times and each time the people I’ve tried to make it with have looked at me as if I was off my rocker. I’m not. There’s a difference. McCain himself would admit it. And when he gets the nomination, the MSM is going to go from “war hero” John McCain to cankerous 71 year old John McCain whose time as a POW may have left him permanently scared psychologically.
If I can put two and two together, some smart Lib surely can using about one-quarter the number of the words with three times the impact.
That’s it. Now, I’m all in for McCain if/when he takes the nomination. That endorsement has so far been the kiss of death for a candidate. Maybe I should add that fact to list in MYTH 3. And YES a vote for HUCKSTERBEE is a vote for McCain.
There are four myths surrounding the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Saint John the speech squelcher. All of the myths have been foisted upon us by the MSM.
MYTH 1: McCain is a “straight talker.” He’s decidedly not.
Exhibit one Saint Juan the open borders: McCain sponsored a bill that offered amnesty to between 12-20 million illegals. Yet to this day he denies that his bill was an amnesty. Is that straight talk? His bill allows criminals who entered the country illegally to jump to the head of the immigration line if they pay a $3,000 dollar fine. In addition to clearly being amnesty, the bill amounts to selling American citizenship to people whose first act upon stepping on to American soil was to break our laws. But are we hearing any straight talk from Saint Juan that he’s was wrong on immigration? Now, McCain is such a straight talker he takes both sides of whether or not he’d sign his own amnesty bill if given the chance as president. He told Tim Russert he would. Three days latter at the republican debate, he said he wouldn’t. Any straight talk in that?
Exhibit two St John the class warrior: McCain’s stance that he was against the Bush tax cuts before he wanted to make them permanent isn’t straight talk. How about an, oops I sure blew that one. Instead Saint John the tax cutter enhances his reputation as a twisted talker by misrepresenting – that’s pol talk for lying – how he arrived at his position. When the bill was up for a vote, Saint John the class warrior opposed it because he said the cuts favored the rich. Now Saint John the fiscal hawk says he opposed the cuts - he now favors - because he wanted the cuts off-set with reductions in government spending. Any straight talk in there? How about a question like this from the MSM, let’s assume your class warfare meme didn’t happen and you're telling the truth about opposing the tax cuts because you wanted them off-set with reductions in government spending. What reductions in government spending have occurred since you first opposed the tax cuts to make you favor them now? There is not one straight line in any of it.
Exhibit three St. John the double back flipper: McCain offerd straight talk about the auto industry jobs in Michigan not coming back until voters wanted to hear that they were. “These jobs are gone” was Saint John the flip’s position right up to point that Romney pounced on him saying, we’re going to innovate, we’re going to invest in R&D, we’re going to rely on American ingenuity and we’re going to bring these jobs back. Well when St. John the flipper found himself looking like dower pessimistic dope, he deftly morphed into St. John the flopper and the straight talk express took an unexpected turn down Lombard St. Of course these jobs are coming back, said McCain. Who said they weren’t coming back, asked McCain. Why when I’m president, there will be so many jobs up here that Americans won’t do, we’ll be able to move half of Mexico up to Michigan.
Exhibit four St. John the chicken: Mr. Straight Talk turned down an hour debate on economics with Romney on Meet the Press. Shouldn’t anyone considered to be a “straight talker” have accepted the debate and delivered a bit of straight talk on how he’s not really all that in tune with how economies work? Shouldn’t McCain have gone on MTP and once again hit us with his class warfare meme condemning corporate profits? Isn’t that why St. John the corporate basher only invests in corporations that don’t make a profit? Is that how his wife’s family made all of their money – foregoing profit? Most people have a one word description for McCain’s reticence to appear with Romney to talk economics. That word is “chicken.” Everyone else uses the more colorful compound word variant –chicken$*%#. And that’s the straight talk on that.
Exhibit five St. John the fabricator: McCain’s insistence, in spite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, that Romney supported a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is a lie. That matter is covered in the post below.
MYTH 2: McCain is a conservative. He is not.
Exhibits:
McCain was actually toying with the idea of being John Kerry’s running mate
McCain had several discussions with then Dem senate leader Tom Daschel about switching parties
McCain opposed tax cuts along class warfare lines
McCain/Feingold is a Soviet style assault on the First Amendment
McCain/Kennedy is an amnesty bill for between 12-20 million criminals who have entered the country illegally
McCain/Lieberman is a gift to environmental whackos and global warming worshipers that will tax clean coal technology while inhibiting exploration and utilization of our own abundant energy resources in favor of inefficient and wildly expensive wind, solar and biofuels. St. John the enviro whacko says he’s for the US becoming energy independent. How? We all buy bikes and live in the cold and dark.
McCain refuses to search for oil in the barren Alaskan wasteland known as ANWR. That’s another gift to enviro whackos who, like Mr. Straight Talk, insist on referring to ANWR as a pristine wilderness area. It isn’t. It’s a wasteland.
McCain wants to close G’itmo in favor of bring the worst terrorist in the world to US soil were they would be afforded access to the same legal system that allows double murderers to escape justice in spite of a mountain of evidence against them including a 1 in 100,000,000 DNA match.
McCain insists that he would not "torture" a terrorist even if the terrorist had information regarding the immanent detonation of nuclear devise in a US city. I wonder what his position would be if that city happened to be the one he or one of his loved ones was in.
MYTH 3: McCain is the only Republican candidate that can win the general. He can’t.
McCain is nothing more than a figment of the MSM’s imagination, a carefully constructed Potemkin Village of a strong conservative military war “hero” capable of taking anything the Dems throw at him. But they do not throw anything at him themselves. They worship him. They write glowing stories of his maverick – read anti-conservative – status. Nothing about McCain escapes into the MSM that doesn’t have him walking on water or nobly suffering the slings and arrows of his less worthy conservative tormentors.
All of that will change two seconds after McCain secures the Republican nomination. Then you will see everything contained in MYTHS 1 and 2 along with long stories on all of the following:
McCain is too old. At 71 he’ll be the oldest ever first term president. And while he will point to his 90+ year old mother, the press will point to his father and grandfather both of whom died before the age McCain currently enjoys.
McCain is unstable. All sorts of stories of McCain blowing his top in red faced expletive laced rants directed at senate colleagues and staff will begin to surface. Was the “war hero’s” POW experience – an experience few could endure – just too much?
McCain dumped his sickly first wife who endured five years of her beloved husband being held as a POW for his current younger, more attractive and richer wife.
McCain broke faith with his fellow POWs when he gutted the 1996 Missing Service Personnel Act.
McCain is ripe for former POWs to ask that he open his private POW debriefing file, a request up until now he has refused even though his POW status is key to his ever arriving in Washington DC as an elected official in the first place.
While the disposition of American MIA/POWs was still unknown, Senator
McCain fought for the normalization of relations with Vietnam.
McCain was one of the original Keating five taking sleazy campaign money before making it illegal by destroying the First Amendment.
McCain crashed three navy aircraft – ok one was shot down - that’s not exactly crashing
McCain is a worst kind of flip flopper
- Bush tax cuts: was against them before was for them
- Doesn’t really have a stellar record for demanding a full accounting of his fellow POWs
- McCain/Kennedy: was for it before he was against
- McCain took sleazy campaign money before deciding to make it illegal by trashing the first amendment
- McCain toyed with idea of switching parties
- McCain the hero – see MYTH 4.
The MSM have made John McCain. Two seconds after he has the nomination, they will remake, deconstruct, and destroy him.
Because the Shrillda Beast starts with about a 49% loath rate, McCain, depending upon who he chooses to run with, has about a 50-50 chance at best of beating her. Clinton lies, misstatements and painfully true statements about McCain’s record will have McCain blowing his top two days into the campaign. He can’t beat a young energetic and hopeful Obama.
MYTH 4: McCain is a war hero
This is hard. There are several definitions of what a hero is;
An ideal model based on ideal qualities of character – no that’s not McCain. He’s angry, egotistical, petty, self righteous, sanctimonious, etc.
The central male character of a book, play, movie or novel – no that’s not McCain although a movie about McCain is not out of the question.
A man admired for his nobility, courage and exploits, usually in war – that’s McCain… sort of.
The MSM always uses the modifier “war hero” to introduce McCain. Let’s stipulate that any who serves during a time of war is some kind of hero. That makes McCain one of about 9.2 million military personnel who were on active duty during the Vietnam War.
Further let’s stipulate that anyone actually in the combat zone is some kind of hero. That makes McCain one of about 3.1 million others who served in the actual combat zone during Vietnam.
After that, what is McCain a hero for? He got shot down and endured 5 ½ years as a POW in North Vietnam. Nobel? Yes! The sacrifice and endurance he displayed are remarkable. Courageous? I’m not so sure. He was doing his job, just like the 3.1 million other guys when he was shot down. After that, dare I say, it was in his own best interest to survive.
There is a huge difference between the guy who, through no fault of his own, finds himself trapped in a burning building and by his ingenuity and will to survive guides five people to safety and the guy who leaves the relative safety of the side walk outside the burning building, dashes into the inferno with no regard for his own personal safety and guides people through that inferno to safety. One guy finds himself in a dangerous situation and works for his survival. The other guy voluntarily leaves safety and PLACES HIMSELF in danger for the benefit of others.
Now both of these scenarios become a bit less remarkable when the guys in question happen to be firemen, guys whose job it is to do what they did.
So while McCain’s remarkable story is one of sacrifice and survival, it’s one predicated on McCain as career Naval Aviator doing his job and then surviving all of the nasty consequences.
Contrast that with Sergeant First Class Paul Smith who willingly placed himself and a .50 cal machine gun between his company and about 100 armed attackers. Smith single handedly destroyed the enemy attack and by his actions saved an untold number of his comrades. Smith probably could have laid low and saved his own life. Instead he manned the machine gun and covered his comrades and died for his valor.
Or how about Lt. Michael Murphy who left a covered position of relative safety to dash into the open and into a hail of enemy gunfire to get better reception to call for help for his trapped SEAL team. That’s heroic.
Now, since McCain showed up in the presidential sweepstakes in 2000, I’ve tried to make this case about 10 times and each time the people I’ve tried to make it with have looked at me as if I was off my rocker. I’m not. There’s a difference. McCain himself would admit it. And when he gets the nomination, the MSM is going to go from “war hero” John McCain to cankerous 71 year old John McCain whose time as a POW may have left him permanently scared psychologically.
If I can put two and two together, some smart Lib surely can using about one-quarter the number of the words with three times the impact.
That’s it. Now, I’m all in for McCain if/when he takes the nomination. That endorsement has so far been the kiss of death for a candidate. Maybe I should add that fact to list in MYTH 3. And YES a vote for HUCKSTERBEE is a vote for McCain.
Friday, February 01, 2008
We all use timetables we're not all quitters
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that CNN’s ratings are so far into the tank that very few people probably saw the arse wippin’ Mitt Romney laid on John McCain during Wednesday night’s debate. The good news is that CNN’s rating are so far into the tank that very few people probably saw our presumptive nominee looking like a tired, bitter, angry, petty, sanctimonious, self-righteous, lying weasel.
Keep in mind he’s all of that while he’s winning. What’s he going to turn into when the press finally exposes him for what he is – and that’ll be about two seconds after he wraps up the nomination?
McCain insisted on sticking with his fantasy that Romney called for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq - sort of like him sticking with the idea that his amnesty bill wasn’t an amnesty bill or his bill assaulting the First Amendment didn’t assault the First Amendment etc. etc. Romney and nearly everyone who reads Romney’s remarks objectively disagree with McCain on the meaning of those remarks. Yet McCain insists that it’s the rest of the platoon who is out of step as his right foot hits the deck just as 43 left boots strike the deck.
Here’s the quote:
A Marine General once told me that a leader’s job consists mainly of three things:
Determine what’s happening
Determine what’s not happening
Use your skill, leadership and assets to influence the action
So who among us decides we want to remodel the house then pays the general contractor the full amount for the job before the work has even begun? I guess John McCain does. Smart people – ah sorry John – set timetables and milestones for payments. Also, smart people – again sorry John – use the timetables and milestones not simply to call off the job if it’s running a day or so behind but rather to manage assets and focus the priority of work.
So when you learn on Fri that the tile you ordered to be laid on Mon won’t be in until Thur, you can either use the John McCain management (ah what he’d call leadership) style and have the tile man stand around for three days while McCain berates him for not being patriotic enough; or you could use the Romney leadership style and call the tile guy and tell him he’s not needed until Thur. Then maybe you’d have to shuffle painters, electricians, carpenters and counter men in order to keep the job moving forward and expenses down while you waited for the tile.
With McCain, republicans are buying into a myth.
Keep in mind he’s all of that while he’s winning. What’s he going to turn into when the press finally exposes him for what he is – and that’ll be about two seconds after he wraps up the nomination?
McCain insisted on sticking with his fantasy that Romney called for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq - sort of like him sticking with the idea that his amnesty bill wasn’t an amnesty bill or his bill assaulting the First Amendment didn’t assault the First Amendment etc. etc. Romney and nearly everyone who reads Romney’s remarks objectively disagree with McCain on the meaning of those remarks. Yet McCain insists that it’s the rest of the platoon who is out of step as his right foot hits the deck just as 43 left boots strike the deck.
Here’s the quote:
When asked by ABC News’ Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America” if he believes
there should be a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, Romney
replied, “Well, there’s no question that the president and Prime Minister al
Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about,
but those shouldn’t be for public pronouncement.”
The former governor went on to explain, “You don’t want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you’re going to be gone. You want to
have a series of things you want to see accomplished in terms of the strength of
the Iraqi military and the Iraqi police and the leadership of the Iraqi
government.” End quote
A Marine General once told me that a leader’s job consists mainly of three things:
Determine what’s happening
Determine what’s not happening
Use your skill, leadership and assets to influence the action
So who among us decides we want to remodel the house then pays the general contractor the full amount for the job before the work has even begun? I guess John McCain does. Smart people – ah sorry John – set timetables and milestones for payments. Also, smart people – again sorry John – use the timetables and milestones not simply to call off the job if it’s running a day or so behind but rather to manage assets and focus the priority of work.
So when you learn on Fri that the tile you ordered to be laid on Mon won’t be in until Thur, you can either use the John McCain management (ah what he’d call leadership) style and have the tile man stand around for three days while McCain berates him for not being patriotic enough; or you could use the Romney leadership style and call the tile guy and tell him he’s not needed until Thur. Then maybe you’d have to shuffle painters, electricians, carpenters and counter men in order to keep the job moving forward and expenses down while you waited for the tile.
With McCain, republicans are buying into a myth.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Primaries prove Dems are the racists
There is something odd going on in the Democrat party. The Kumbaya party of tolerance and can’t we all just get along has disintegrated into the party of identity politics of the worst kind. Identity politics is when a voter ignores issues and simply votes for the candidate that looks most like themselves.
Blacks it seems are breaking about 98% for Obama. This was fine with the Clintons when 96% of blacks were voting Democrat for Bill. But now “those people” are voting for one of their own against the Shrillda Beast and the Clintons have to smear Obama as a “black candidate” – read Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. Never mind Obama’s mother is white, which makes him at least half as white as Bill Clinton. And never mind Obama won in the whitest of all states and came close in the second whitest of all states. The Clintons keep the whispering campaign up – Obama’s the “black candidate.”
While blacks are breaking for Obama, women are breaking overwhelmingly for the Shrillda Beast.
So the blacks go to Obama and the women go to the Shrillda Beast – whose left? The most down trodden and least appreciated of all Democrat constituencies - white men – they are particularly ignored if they happen to be heterosexual Christian men with a job. When white conservative men vote their interests based on issues by voting Republican, Dems call us racists and bigots.
Racism and sexism among white males being what it is, what are Dems going to do in the general election? Certainly the Dem nominee will expect white men to march into the booth and dutifully pull the lever for the “black candidate” or “the woman” because that’s what the party wants them to do. But what if white Democrat men play a little identity politics of their own and end up voting for the white male Republican? Then they would enter the world of the white male Republican and become racist bigots.
Weird huh. If you’re black and vote for the black guy for no other reason than he’s black, you’re an enlightened soul voting your best interests. If you’re a woman and vote for the Beast for no other reason than she’s a woman – sort of, you’re a person of conscience, a true patriot voting for the future of America. If you’re a white male and vote for the white male Republican candidate because he’s least likely to turn America into a socialist state, you’re nothing more than a greedy racist sexist homophobic redneck.
So the Dems think that they can placate the redneck vote by putting a white guy like John Edwards on the ticket. First, the Shrillda Beast is more of a man than Edwards. Second, Edwards makes no sense electorally because Edwards has proven he can’t even deliver his home state. Dems will pick a white guy like Even Bayh from IN or Ted Strickland of Strickland Propane (juvenile King of the Hill reference) actually he's the Gov of OH. But they will need to do more.
How funny is it going to be to watch Democrats pandering to white male rednecks? Look for the first one to offer a beer subsidy at NASCAR races; $3,000 government rebate checks for the purchase of a new American made pick up truck; a special sub-prime bail out for anyone who bought more double wide trailer than they could afford; legalized bootlegging and most important, lifting the ban on hunting deer with a spotlight.
Blacks it seems are breaking about 98% for Obama. This was fine with the Clintons when 96% of blacks were voting Democrat for Bill. But now “those people” are voting for one of their own against the Shrillda Beast and the Clintons have to smear Obama as a “black candidate” – read Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. Never mind Obama’s mother is white, which makes him at least half as white as Bill Clinton. And never mind Obama won in the whitest of all states and came close in the second whitest of all states. The Clintons keep the whispering campaign up – Obama’s the “black candidate.”
While blacks are breaking for Obama, women are breaking overwhelmingly for the Shrillda Beast.
So the blacks go to Obama and the women go to the Shrillda Beast – whose left? The most down trodden and least appreciated of all Democrat constituencies - white men – they are particularly ignored if they happen to be heterosexual Christian men with a job. When white conservative men vote their interests based on issues by voting Republican, Dems call us racists and bigots.
Racism and sexism among white males being what it is, what are Dems going to do in the general election? Certainly the Dem nominee will expect white men to march into the booth and dutifully pull the lever for the “black candidate” or “the woman” because that’s what the party wants them to do. But what if white Democrat men play a little identity politics of their own and end up voting for the white male Republican? Then they would enter the world of the white male Republican and become racist bigots.
Weird huh. If you’re black and vote for the black guy for no other reason than he’s black, you’re an enlightened soul voting your best interests. If you’re a woman and vote for the Beast for no other reason than she’s a woman – sort of, you’re a person of conscience, a true patriot voting for the future of America. If you’re a white male and vote for the white male Republican candidate because he’s least likely to turn America into a socialist state, you’re nothing more than a greedy racist sexist homophobic redneck.
So the Dems think that they can placate the redneck vote by putting a white guy like John Edwards on the ticket. First, the Shrillda Beast is more of a man than Edwards. Second, Edwards makes no sense electorally because Edwards has proven he can’t even deliver his home state. Dems will pick a white guy like Even Bayh from IN or Ted Strickland of Strickland Propane (juvenile King of the Hill reference) actually he's the Gov of OH. But they will need to do more.
How funny is it going to be to watch Democrats pandering to white male rednecks? Look for the first one to offer a beer subsidy at NASCAR races; $3,000 government rebate checks for the purchase of a new American made pick up truck; a special sub-prime bail out for anyone who bought more double wide trailer than they could afford; legalized bootlegging and most important, lifting the ban on hunting deer with a spotlight.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
An echo not a choice in November
It’s not over until it’s over. Given the disasters my men have faced after Lex going all in for them, I’m tempted to throw my support to McCain in sort of a jujitsu endorsement.
It looks like an all uphill climb for Romney at this point. He has the money ($25 of it mine) to hang in there until Super Tues. All of Romney’s money will not off-set the free attention and publicity McCain will get from his adoring press. And it appears that Reps are willing to take the bait and go along like lemmings wherever the press steers them. That ought to send warning signs to any Republican. If the press is for it, ought we not be against it?
Anyway Romney is going to have to sharpen his attacks on McCain – without appearing desperate. That won’t be easy. But I’d continue with the Washington outsider line while linking McCain with Feingold, Kennedy and Lieberman. I’d keep the amnesty bill front and center and note that McCain’s chief advisor on immigration, Juan Hernandez, is a dual citizen Mexican who served on Vicente Fox’s cabinet. This out reach is code for open borders and amnesty. Last you could go after him where he lives – honor. It’s not an honorable thing to dump your sickly wife for a younger, prettier and richer one. That would be a tricky issue. It’s not an honorable thing to distort your opponent’s record – distort is political speak for lie about. George Will called McCain Clintonian for his misrepresentation of Romney’s remarks on Iraq. Nearly every other conservative just said it was a clear distortion – aka lie.
The easy part is finding things to nick McCain up over. The hard part is doing it aggressively enough to gain headway while not looking desperate. Now Giuliani is getting out and supposedly going to endorse McCain. So McCain will have a free shot at 100% of the non-conservative Republicans. Hucksterbee will stay in without a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the nomination because McCain wants him in to strip Conservative votes from Romney. Hucksterbee will continue to attack Romney while giving front-runner McCain a pass – an odd tactic if you were seriously interested in winning.
I’m not willing to say it’s over yet. But it looks we’re headed for a choice between Democrat and Democrat-lite in November.
It looks like an all uphill climb for Romney at this point. He has the money ($25 of it mine) to hang in there until Super Tues. All of Romney’s money will not off-set the free attention and publicity McCain will get from his adoring press. And it appears that Reps are willing to take the bait and go along like lemmings wherever the press steers them. That ought to send warning signs to any Republican. If the press is for it, ought we not be against it?
Anyway Romney is going to have to sharpen his attacks on McCain – without appearing desperate. That won’t be easy. But I’d continue with the Washington outsider line while linking McCain with Feingold, Kennedy and Lieberman. I’d keep the amnesty bill front and center and note that McCain’s chief advisor on immigration, Juan Hernandez, is a dual citizen Mexican who served on Vicente Fox’s cabinet. This out reach is code for open borders and amnesty. Last you could go after him where he lives – honor. It’s not an honorable thing to dump your sickly wife for a younger, prettier and richer one. That would be a tricky issue. It’s not an honorable thing to distort your opponent’s record – distort is political speak for lie about. George Will called McCain Clintonian for his misrepresentation of Romney’s remarks on Iraq. Nearly every other conservative just said it was a clear distortion – aka lie.
The easy part is finding things to nick McCain up over. The hard part is doing it aggressively enough to gain headway while not looking desperate. Now Giuliani is getting out and supposedly going to endorse McCain. So McCain will have a free shot at 100% of the non-conservative Republicans. Hucksterbee will stay in without a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the nomination because McCain wants him in to strip Conservative votes from Romney. Hucksterbee will continue to attack Romney while giving front-runner McCain a pass – an odd tactic if you were seriously interested in winning.
I’m not willing to say it’s over yet. But it looks we’re headed for a choice between Democrat and Democrat-lite in November.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
SOTU and who'd you rather be
State of the Union
Hey how about that State of the Union address? Did anyone else think the best part of the speech was the aftermath? Both Dems and Reps were crowding around a lame duck president with approval ratings in the tank to get a handshake and autograph. Could it be that they all know that history is going to be a kind judge of the man who got the main issue of his day right?
The best line of the entire night was when the president told those who thought that taxes were too low that the IRS accepts checks and money orders and that they could send in whatever additional tax money that they thought was fair. Touché!
Could the Democrat response been any lamer? “Will you join us” Governor Sebelius in trying to pick the tempo and energy of your speech up a bit so that we don’t all nod off between each mechanically delivered line? “Will you join us” governor in not piling one trite Democrat talking point on top of another to the point where you sound like a boring civilized version of Keith Olbermann? And last, why don’t you join us governor?
Bottom line, even if the president did “join them,” they’d still complain about him, still blame everything on him and still nothing would get done. It’s Washington DC. Did you see the one shot of full-time Crooked Land Baron and part-time Senate Leader Reid? It was comical. It would be well worth it to keep Bush in office until 2036 just get that kind of reaction from that dower, humorless, petty wreck of humanity.
Who would you rather be?
But on to more important things. I’ve decided that the best way to determine who to vote for is the “who would you rather be” test.
On the Republican side, who’d you rather be?
A mean spirited, angry, cantankerous, broken down looking old man who has spent nearly three decades in Washington DC getting us to where we are today; who dumped his modest sickly wife who stuck with him through five years as a POW before being throw over board like so much kitchen garbage for younger more attractive and wealthy Coors Beer heiress (hey, that might explain the John Kerry connection); who sponsored an assault on the first amendment because he got caught taking crooked money; who sponsored an open borders amnesty immigration bill; who is willing to wreck the US economy in order to placate enviro whackos; who voted against tax cuts; who calls his opponent a flip flopper even though it was he who took crooked money before voting to ban it; it was he who voted to open the borders and grant amnesty before coming out against his own legislation; it was he who voted against tax cuts before saying he was for making them permanent.
Or you could be;
A pleasant, more attractive, smarter, well spoken younger man; a self-made business man (aka made his own money instead of marrying it) who is a multi millionaire; who has spent his life fixing problems instead of making them; who gained notoriety by saving the Salt Lake Olympics; who married his high school sweetheart and has raised five successful and independent sons. Well you get the point.
Hey did Romney read Lex yesterday? Did you hear him on after the State of the Union shows talking about McCain Feingold/Kennedy/Lieberman?
Hey how about that State of the Union address? Did anyone else think the best part of the speech was the aftermath? Both Dems and Reps were crowding around a lame duck president with approval ratings in the tank to get a handshake and autograph. Could it be that they all know that history is going to be a kind judge of the man who got the main issue of his day right?
The best line of the entire night was when the president told those who thought that taxes were too low that the IRS accepts checks and money orders and that they could send in whatever additional tax money that they thought was fair. Touché!
Could the Democrat response been any lamer? “Will you join us” Governor Sebelius in trying to pick the tempo and energy of your speech up a bit so that we don’t all nod off between each mechanically delivered line? “Will you join us” governor in not piling one trite Democrat talking point on top of another to the point where you sound like a boring civilized version of Keith Olbermann? And last, why don’t you join us governor?
Bottom line, even if the president did “join them,” they’d still complain about him, still blame everything on him and still nothing would get done. It’s Washington DC. Did you see the one shot of full-time Crooked Land Baron and part-time Senate Leader Reid? It was comical. It would be well worth it to keep Bush in office until 2036 just get that kind of reaction from that dower, humorless, petty wreck of humanity.
Who would you rather be?
But on to more important things. I’ve decided that the best way to determine who to vote for is the “who would you rather be” test.
On the Republican side, who’d you rather be?
A mean spirited, angry, cantankerous, broken down looking old man who has spent nearly three decades in Washington DC getting us to where we are today; who dumped his modest sickly wife who stuck with him through five years as a POW before being throw over board like so much kitchen garbage for younger more attractive and wealthy Coors Beer heiress (hey, that might explain the John Kerry connection); who sponsored an assault on the first amendment because he got caught taking crooked money; who sponsored an open borders amnesty immigration bill; who is willing to wreck the US economy in order to placate enviro whackos; who voted against tax cuts; who calls his opponent a flip flopper even though it was he who took crooked money before voting to ban it; it was he who voted to open the borders and grant amnesty before coming out against his own legislation; it was he who voted against tax cuts before saying he was for making them permanent.
Or you could be;
A pleasant, more attractive, smarter, well spoken younger man; a self-made business man (aka made his own money instead of marrying it) who is a multi millionaire; who has spent his life fixing problems instead of making them; who gained notoriety by saving the Salt Lake Olympics; who married his high school sweetheart and has raised five successful and independent sons. Well you get the point.
Hey did Romney read Lex yesterday? Did you hear him on after the State of the Union shows talking about McCain Feingold/Kennedy/Lieberman?
Monday, January 28, 2008
Fodder for the ad wars
Bill Clinton said "She (The Shrillda Beast) and John McCain are very close. They always laugh that if they wound up being the nominees of their party, it would be the most civilized election in American history, and they're afraid they'd put the voters to sleep because they like and respect each other."
There has to be a TV ad in there somewhere for Romney or Giuliani - sadly sadly the Hucksterbee campaign is now wholly owned subsidiary of the McCain campaign.
Couple Bill's words with:
McCain Feingold - an assault on the First Amendment of the US Constitution
McCain Kennedy – an amnesty bill for 12 -20 million illegal aliens
McCain Lieberman – an economic self-destruct bill in the name of global warming
You use those grainy black and white photos made famous by negative political ads of a smiling McCain juxtaposed with grainy black and white photos of the various Democrat players: Announcer’s voice runs off the list, McCain Clinton; McCain Feingold; McCain Kennedy; McCain Lieberman and use the tag line: Which party’s nomination is John McCain running for anyway?
On immigration, I’d show clips of McCain talking about illegal aliens having to pay a fine to be able to stay in the US and then ask: Hey John, if we’re going to sell US citizenship, shouldn’t the people who have been waiting in line legally the longest get first dibs?
There has to be a TV ad in there somewhere for Romney or Giuliani - sadly sadly the Hucksterbee campaign is now wholly owned subsidiary of the McCain campaign.
Couple Bill's words with:
McCain Feingold - an assault on the First Amendment of the US Constitution
McCain Kennedy – an amnesty bill for 12 -20 million illegal aliens
McCain Lieberman – an economic self-destruct bill in the name of global warming
You use those grainy black and white photos made famous by negative political ads of a smiling McCain juxtaposed with grainy black and white photos of the various Democrat players: Announcer’s voice runs off the list, McCain Clinton; McCain Feingold; McCain Kennedy; McCain Lieberman and use the tag line: Which party’s nomination is John McCain running for anyway?
On immigration, I’d show clips of McCain talking about illegal aliens having to pay a fine to be able to stay in the US and then ask: Hey John, if we’re going to sell US citizenship, shouldn’t the people who have been waiting in line legally the longest get first dibs?
Friday, January 25, 2008
Debate stimulus
The debate
The Republicans had their, what, 1,000th debate last night. This one was in FL ahead of Tuesday’s primary vote. There was none of the open acrimony that marked the Democrat debate a few days ago.
Romney was the clear winner. Sharp, on point, best prepared, most presidential and the best dressed guy on stage, MSNBC clearly hated him. Romney played the Washington outsider at every chance placing oblique enfilade fire directly on his closest competitor – McCain the consummate Washington insider – without ever mentioning McCain by name. Brilliant! Thank God MSNBC finally brought up Romney’s religion …for what was at least the millionth time. This time it was in the form of a poll. 44% of Americans it seems have some reservation about a Mormon as President. Romney swatted it away saying he didn’t believe 44% of Americans couldn’t understand the “no religious test” verbiage found in the Constitution. He also noted that when issues are defined in the general election, faith is not going to be as important as the Shrillda Beast’s liberalism compared with his conservatism.
McCain looked old and said nothing new or particularly inspiring. He was the obvious favorite of MSNBC. While they peppered Romney with tough questions, they lobbed softballs to McCain, which he surprisingly seemed to have trouble catching up to. MSNBC noted that McCain’s most serious short coming might be his temper. No. His most serious short coming was his brazen assault on the First Amendment for political gain. His second most serious short coming was that he advocated opening our borders and giving amnesty to 12-20 million illegal aliens (Immigration never came up in the debate). His third most serious short coming is that he expects the US to destroy its economy to save the environment while China and India are expected to do nothing but grow their economies by 12-15% every year while spewing millions of tons more pollutants into the air than the US could even dream of. His fourth most serious short coming is that he voted against tax cuts before voting to make them permanent. This is the myth being pushed by the media. The myth is, that except for topic A (fill in the blank) McCain is the best conservative candidate. The reality is, except for topics A, B, C, D, etc. on through to about topic triple X, McCain is the best conservative candidate – and you have to go about half way down the list before there is anything about his temper.
Giuliani looked good, but sadly I get the feeling that he waited too long.
Ron Paul was Ron Paul - solid on domestic issues but can’t close the deal on a US international policy consisting of us sticking our heads in the sand while Islamo-terror-fascists try to kill us.
Huckabee was good on the fair tax and shut Russert down when Tim tried to interrupt saying it was unrealistic to think it’d be passed into law.
What was clear last night was that the media are going to try to take the successes in the Iraq war and dangers of illegal immigration off the table during the general election. Instead they are going to insert high gas prices, unemployment, unstable markets and rising unemployment as the issues of the day.
The stimulus package.
If Mitt Romney promised everyone in the swing state of Ohio a $50 check for voting for him, the government would put him in jail. Aside from the amount of money being offered, how is the unpaid for “stimulus package” any different? At least Romney could pay for his plan. The government is just going to print more money and ask the post office to deliver it to Americans. I’m happy that the money is out of government hands, but it seems to me unless there is corresponding off-set to government spending somewhere – we’re only making the problem worse. I don’t think it’s any kind of profile in courage for politicians to be in favor of sending voters $300 checks in the mail during an election year. It is quite the opposite.
The Republicans had their, what, 1,000th debate last night. This one was in FL ahead of Tuesday’s primary vote. There was none of the open acrimony that marked the Democrat debate a few days ago.
Romney was the clear winner. Sharp, on point, best prepared, most presidential and the best dressed guy on stage, MSNBC clearly hated him. Romney played the Washington outsider at every chance placing oblique enfilade fire directly on his closest competitor – McCain the consummate Washington insider – without ever mentioning McCain by name. Brilliant! Thank God MSNBC finally brought up Romney’s religion …for what was at least the millionth time. This time it was in the form of a poll. 44% of Americans it seems have some reservation about a Mormon as President. Romney swatted it away saying he didn’t believe 44% of Americans couldn’t understand the “no religious test” verbiage found in the Constitution. He also noted that when issues are defined in the general election, faith is not going to be as important as the Shrillda Beast’s liberalism compared with his conservatism.
McCain looked old and said nothing new or particularly inspiring. He was the obvious favorite of MSNBC. While they peppered Romney with tough questions, they lobbed softballs to McCain, which he surprisingly seemed to have trouble catching up to. MSNBC noted that McCain’s most serious short coming might be his temper. No. His most serious short coming was his brazen assault on the First Amendment for political gain. His second most serious short coming was that he advocated opening our borders and giving amnesty to 12-20 million illegal aliens (Immigration never came up in the debate). His third most serious short coming is that he expects the US to destroy its economy to save the environment while China and India are expected to do nothing but grow their economies by 12-15% every year while spewing millions of tons more pollutants into the air than the US could even dream of. His fourth most serious short coming is that he voted against tax cuts before voting to make them permanent. This is the myth being pushed by the media. The myth is, that except for topic A (fill in the blank) McCain is the best conservative candidate. The reality is, except for topics A, B, C, D, etc. on through to about topic triple X, McCain is the best conservative candidate – and you have to go about half way down the list before there is anything about his temper.
Giuliani looked good, but sadly I get the feeling that he waited too long.
Ron Paul was Ron Paul - solid on domestic issues but can’t close the deal on a US international policy consisting of us sticking our heads in the sand while Islamo-terror-fascists try to kill us.
Huckabee was good on the fair tax and shut Russert down when Tim tried to interrupt saying it was unrealistic to think it’d be passed into law.
What was clear last night was that the media are going to try to take the successes in the Iraq war and dangers of illegal immigration off the table during the general election. Instead they are going to insert high gas prices, unemployment, unstable markets and rising unemployment as the issues of the day.
The stimulus package.
If Mitt Romney promised everyone in the swing state of Ohio a $50 check for voting for him, the government would put him in jail. Aside from the amount of money being offered, how is the unpaid for “stimulus package” any different? At least Romney could pay for his plan. The government is just going to print more money and ask the post office to deliver it to Americans. I’m happy that the money is out of government hands, but it seems to me unless there is corresponding off-set to government spending somewhere – we’re only making the problem worse. I don’t think it’s any kind of profile in courage for politicians to be in favor of sending voters $300 checks in the mail during an election year. It is quite the opposite.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A life well lived
When word of actor Heath Ledger’s death broke, my initial reaction was Heath who? The news always included the tag: Oscar Nominated star from the critically acclaimed movie “Broke Back Mountain.” I still had no idea who the guy was. It wasn’t until I saw clips from “A Knight’s Tale” and “The Patriot” that I was able to put a face with the name.
My second reaction was, let’s see a successful movie actor dies young, could drugs be involved? Sadly, all too predictably, drugs were reported to be strewn around the body. Apparently Ledger was taking about six different prescription drugs for various conditions. The guy was 28 years old and taking more drugs than my 80 year old father in law who has arthritis, heart trouble and Alzheimer’s. How can that be?
Anyone who watches the six o’clock news knows. Drug companies have developed a relief for every human condition from a runny nose to a dry scalp. The drug companies, having invested millions in the R&D of such drugs, aggressively advertise their wares as instant relief from a bottle for whatever ails you. When, as required by law, the list of possible side effects is read, I always wonder who would take such stuff?
But there is a market. The aches and pains of everyday life and the reversal of the aging process it seems is only a dozen or so pills away taken three times a daily. The things that mom and dad lived with from thinning grey hair to aging skin can now be done away with if the application, ingestion or injection of certain chemicals. There’s no such thing as aging gracefully anymore. And what’s really shameful is that your federal government is subsidizing this prescription nightmare that promises only to get worse.
The third thing that struck me was that it must be tough to be young, rich and famous. That said, I wouldn’t mind giving it go. Hell, I wouldn’t mind getting ten years back never mind the rich and famous part and even ten years wouldn’t make me young by Ledger’s standards. But alas, life is not a dress rehearsal. You don’t get do overs. You can only hope to learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others and go forward.
The last thing that struck me was, as sad and tragic a death as Ledger’s was, does such a life merit the 24-7 coverage it has received and will continue to receive long after the Batman movie he worked on is released? I Googled “Heath Ledger” this morning and got over 14 million listings.
For perspective, I Googled Lt. Michael P. Murphy and got a little over 200,000 listings. Lt Murphy, you might recall, was the leader of a SEAL team. He was killed in action in Afghanistan fighting to save his men and defend his country. He received the Medal of Honor for his heroism. He was 29 years old.
What has just struck me is that there is 70 times more attention being paid in this country to actor that has killed himself, intentionally or not, with drugs than to an American hero who was cut down in battle defending his men and the country. I find that more puzzling than drug companies spending millions developing and marketing a cure for dry earlobe syndrome. The dispirit attention being paid these two young lives, one a life privilege the other a life of service, is more puzzling than some young actor willing to risk a long list of possible side effects up to and including premature death to get relief from some manufactured syndrome.
But hey, I was 20 years in the Marine Corps and rarely go to the movies. But I ask, of these two young men, whose life was better lived? Whose life is a better model for our sons? Whose life deserves more attention?
My second reaction was, let’s see a successful movie actor dies young, could drugs be involved? Sadly, all too predictably, drugs were reported to be strewn around the body. Apparently Ledger was taking about six different prescription drugs for various conditions. The guy was 28 years old and taking more drugs than my 80 year old father in law who has arthritis, heart trouble and Alzheimer’s. How can that be?
Anyone who watches the six o’clock news knows. Drug companies have developed a relief for every human condition from a runny nose to a dry scalp. The drug companies, having invested millions in the R&D of such drugs, aggressively advertise their wares as instant relief from a bottle for whatever ails you. When, as required by law, the list of possible side effects is read, I always wonder who would take such stuff?
But there is a market. The aches and pains of everyday life and the reversal of the aging process it seems is only a dozen or so pills away taken three times a daily. The things that mom and dad lived with from thinning grey hair to aging skin can now be done away with if the application, ingestion or injection of certain chemicals. There’s no such thing as aging gracefully anymore. And what’s really shameful is that your federal government is subsidizing this prescription nightmare that promises only to get worse.
The third thing that struck me was that it must be tough to be young, rich and famous. That said, I wouldn’t mind giving it go. Hell, I wouldn’t mind getting ten years back never mind the rich and famous part and even ten years wouldn’t make me young by Ledger’s standards. But alas, life is not a dress rehearsal. You don’t get do overs. You can only hope to learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others and go forward.
The last thing that struck me was, as sad and tragic a death as Ledger’s was, does such a life merit the 24-7 coverage it has received and will continue to receive long after the Batman movie he worked on is released? I Googled “Heath Ledger” this morning and got over 14 million listings.
For perspective, I Googled Lt. Michael P. Murphy and got a little over 200,000 listings. Lt Murphy, you might recall, was the leader of a SEAL team. He was killed in action in Afghanistan fighting to save his men and defend his country. He received the Medal of Honor for his heroism. He was 29 years old.
What has just struck me is that there is 70 times more attention being paid in this country to actor that has killed himself, intentionally or not, with drugs than to an American hero who was cut down in battle defending his men and the country. I find that more puzzling than drug companies spending millions developing and marketing a cure for dry earlobe syndrome. The dispirit attention being paid these two young lives, one a life privilege the other a life of service, is more puzzling than some young actor willing to risk a long list of possible side effects up to and including premature death to get relief from some manufactured syndrome.
But hey, I was 20 years in the Marine Corps and rarely go to the movies. But I ask, of these two young men, whose life was better lived? Whose life is a better model for our sons? Whose life deserves more attention?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
My candidate is out. My new candidate is...
Fred is out. America said it wanted a candidate that didn’t speak in sound bites. Fred spoke in long paragraphs. America said it didn’t want a slick packaged Pol. No one ever called Fred slick. Republicans complained that there was no real conservative in the race. Fred was the most conservative candidate. So for whatever reason, Fred didn’t catch on though he seemed to embody what the people said they wanted in a Pol.
So Fred’s out and now I’m all in for Mitt Romney. I’m sure my support and the $25 donation that goes with it along with the consideration of the 3 people that check this page from time to time will push Romney over the top. Look for a special news conference from Mitt announcing Lex’s support later today.
Now Fred is running for Vice President. I suppose that’s OK. But I hope the Rep nominee will look outside of the traditional field for a running mate. Former Maryland Lt Gov Michael Steele would be a good pick. Steele is a black man with a quick wit and an affable personality. He’d be a good Rep off-set to Obama. Condi Rice might be a good choice. How about a military guy in the mold of a Gen James Mattis or Gen James Jones or Gen Charles Krulack? No, it is no coincidence that they are all Marines. How about taking a risky political position and bringing on a captain of industry? You know a Mitt Romney type that has actually accomplished something other than raising money for the next political campaign.
Why is it that we always go to the class of people who have gotten us in to the mess to bail us out? We seem to value the judgment of pandering Pols over people who actually know and have accomplished something in their lives. And, the longer the Pols have been around to screw things up, the more we seem to be for them.
I guess no average successful guy would want the public anal exam that goes along with public political life. So we get stuck with a class of people who not only don’t mind the finger of public scrutiny probing every orifice of their persona public and private but seem to revel in it. Is that a good thing?
So Fred’s out and now I’m all in for Mitt Romney. I’m sure my support and the $25 donation that goes with it along with the consideration of the 3 people that check this page from time to time will push Romney over the top. Look for a special news conference from Mitt announcing Lex’s support later today.
Now Fred is running for Vice President. I suppose that’s OK. But I hope the Rep nominee will look outside of the traditional field for a running mate. Former Maryland Lt Gov Michael Steele would be a good pick. Steele is a black man with a quick wit and an affable personality. He’d be a good Rep off-set to Obama. Condi Rice might be a good choice. How about a military guy in the mold of a Gen James Mattis or Gen James Jones or Gen Charles Krulack? No, it is no coincidence that they are all Marines. How about taking a risky political position and bringing on a captain of industry? You know a Mitt Romney type that has actually accomplished something other than raising money for the next political campaign.
Why is it that we always go to the class of people who have gotten us in to the mess to bail us out? We seem to value the judgment of pandering Pols over people who actually know and have accomplished something in their lives. And, the longer the Pols have been around to screw things up, the more we seem to be for them.
I guess no average successful guy would want the public anal exam that goes along with public political life. So we get stuck with a class of people who not only don’t mind the finger of public scrutiny probing every orifice of their persona public and private but seem to revel in it. Is that a good thing?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
What if.....
What to do if faced with a choice between Clinton and McCain in November? I’m considering a trip to the deep backwoods of Michigan. No wait, it may be cold up there in November. A trip to the deep backwoods of Mississippi sounds warmer and better. No wait, that conjures up visions of the film Deliverance. I guess there’s nothing to be done but face the music.
What to do when faced with a choice between a woman whose only qualification for the job is that she remained married to serial philanderer and an unstable old man whose signature piece of legislation is the greatest assault on the Constitution and the First Amendment in the history of the nation? I guess I’ll go with the unstable old man in the hopes that brings on Thompson as a running mate. Then two days after entering office, McCain wakes up and decided that the only way to get the money out of politics is to suspend the constitution in favor of some “straight talk.”
After that the country and the congress take hold of their senses and realize what a nut job McCain is the Twenty-fifth Amendment is evoked and Thompson serves an eight year term.
Hey that’s the hopeful scenario. If the Shrillda Beast gets the nod, we don’t have to worry about a second Beast term. I’m convinced she’ll be able to destroy the country in less than four years.
What to do when faced with a choice between a woman whose only qualification for the job is that she remained married to serial philanderer and an unstable old man whose signature piece of legislation is the greatest assault on the Constitution and the First Amendment in the history of the nation? I guess I’ll go with the unstable old man in the hopes that brings on Thompson as a running mate. Then two days after entering office, McCain wakes up and decided that the only way to get the money out of politics is to suspend the constitution in favor of some “straight talk.”
After that the country and the congress take hold of their senses and realize what a nut job McCain is the Twenty-fifth Amendment is evoked and Thompson serves an eight year term.
Hey that’s the hopeful scenario. If the Shrillda Beast gets the nod, we don’t have to worry about a second Beast term. I’m convinced she’ll be able to destroy the country in less than four years.
Monday, January 21, 2008
It's a mess
MLK Day
John Edwards and Barack Obama will be campaigning and raising money inside black churches all day today. Black churches are the only places of worship where a pandering politician can openly campaign without fear of the ACLU or Justice Department interfering. Can you imagine the hail storm of criticism Mitt Romney would take if he showed up at Temple Square in Salt Lake and started to talk politics? Politicking in black churches has been going on for so long now nobody even notices. I don’t know why that is, but it is. The Shrillda Beast will throw on her best Aunt Jemima dress, head scarf and the over the top fake black accent to tell the gathered black congregation how she has fought for civil rights for 35 years. The she’ll leave town for Texas where she’ll lay a wreath at the grave of, according to her anyway, the real civil rights leader, LBJ. No one will ask, what pray tell in those 35 years have YOU accomplished?
The Primaries
It would seem my guy, Fred Thompson, is dead. The only good thing about Fred’s campaign was it knocked Hucksterbee for a loop in SC. The bad thing was it allowed McCainiac to further inflate his ego with a win there. Given Thompson’s own estimate, I suppose he should think about dropping out of the race now. Hucksterbee has claimed that Thompson’s campaign has been nothing more than a foil for the McCainiacs from the start. If Thompson drops out and endorses McCainiac, I suppose there may be some truth to that charge.
Now we have to hope somebody, Giuliani or Romney, can stop McCainiac in FL. FL is a winner take all state so coming close doesn’t count. Reps need to thin the field a bit. A poor showing in FL could drive Hucksterbee out and Thompson, if he’s not out already. If Giuliani wins and goes on to Super Tuesday, he’ll split votes with McCain and Romney will benefit. If McCain wins and drives Giuliani from the race, then it’s Romney and McCain. Who knows?
But Dems are in a mess as well. Blacks aren’t taking kindly to the Clinton’s smear campaign against one of their own. There are huge riffs - black vs. white, black vs. Hispanic, men vs. women - inside the Dem party that supposedly doesn’t notice skin color and/or sex. That is until it’s useful for the Clintons to exploit such differences to get the nomination for the Shrillda Beast.
Then there’s all of this talk about white voters lying pollsters. They tell the pollster that they’ll support the black candidate then get into the booth and vote white. The only thing I’d say about that is, it’s not white voters lying. It’s white Democrat voters lying. And what else would you expect from a party that holds a lying white man like Bill Clinton in such high regard?
John Edwards and Barack Obama will be campaigning and raising money inside black churches all day today. Black churches are the only places of worship where a pandering politician can openly campaign without fear of the ACLU or Justice Department interfering. Can you imagine the hail storm of criticism Mitt Romney would take if he showed up at Temple Square in Salt Lake and started to talk politics? Politicking in black churches has been going on for so long now nobody even notices. I don’t know why that is, but it is. The Shrillda Beast will throw on her best Aunt Jemima dress, head scarf and the over the top fake black accent to tell the gathered black congregation how she has fought for civil rights for 35 years. The she’ll leave town for Texas where she’ll lay a wreath at the grave of, according to her anyway, the real civil rights leader, LBJ. No one will ask, what pray tell in those 35 years have YOU accomplished?
The Primaries
It would seem my guy, Fred Thompson, is dead. The only good thing about Fred’s campaign was it knocked Hucksterbee for a loop in SC. The bad thing was it allowed McCainiac to further inflate his ego with a win there. Given Thompson’s own estimate, I suppose he should think about dropping out of the race now. Hucksterbee has claimed that Thompson’s campaign has been nothing more than a foil for the McCainiacs from the start. If Thompson drops out and endorses McCainiac, I suppose there may be some truth to that charge.
Now we have to hope somebody, Giuliani or Romney, can stop McCainiac in FL. FL is a winner take all state so coming close doesn’t count. Reps need to thin the field a bit. A poor showing in FL could drive Hucksterbee out and Thompson, if he’s not out already. If Giuliani wins and goes on to Super Tuesday, he’ll split votes with McCain and Romney will benefit. If McCain wins and drives Giuliani from the race, then it’s Romney and McCain. Who knows?
But Dems are in a mess as well. Blacks aren’t taking kindly to the Clinton’s smear campaign against one of their own. There are huge riffs - black vs. white, black vs. Hispanic, men vs. women - inside the Dem party that supposedly doesn’t notice skin color and/or sex. That is until it’s useful for the Clintons to exploit such differences to get the nomination for the Shrillda Beast.
Then there’s all of this talk about white voters lying pollsters. They tell the pollster that they’ll support the black candidate then get into the booth and vote white. The only thing I’d say about that is, it’s not white voters lying. It’s white Democrat voters lying. And what else would you expect from a party that holds a lying white man like Bill Clinton in such high regard?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Republicans looking for a student council president
Is this a national election or student council election? Supposedly national elections are based on candidate’s beliefs about the direction the country ought to be headed on the major issues of the day. Student council elections center around the relative popularity of the candidates.
McCain strikes me as the star running back on the football team who had his knee blown out scoring the winning touchdown against the cross town rival. Who cares what he stands for – or against like free speech – he’s a hero. Huckabee is the class clown. He’s quick with a quip or cutting remark and keeps the class laughing. Romney is the class valedictorian. He’s handsome, smart and has answers to all of the questions. Thus the student body is suspicious of him and oooooh he’s Mormon. Thompson is the tackle on the football team who knocked down three would-be tacklers on McCain’s heroic run but got no credit. He organizes the class carwash and runs all of the school meetings. He’s not flashy and is nearly invisible to his classmates.
So far the student body and the Republican Party would rather have a football hero for student council president than someone actually capable of running things.
The best thing yet on Fred here.
McCain strikes me as the star running back on the football team who had his knee blown out scoring the winning touchdown against the cross town rival. Who cares what he stands for – or against like free speech – he’s a hero. Huckabee is the class clown. He’s quick with a quip or cutting remark and keeps the class laughing. Romney is the class valedictorian. He’s handsome, smart and has answers to all of the questions. Thus the student body is suspicious of him and oooooh he’s Mormon. Thompson is the tackle on the football team who knocked down three would-be tacklers on McCain’s heroic run but got no credit. He organizes the class carwash and runs all of the school meetings. He’s not flashy and is nearly invisible to his classmates.
So far the student body and the Republican Party would rather have a football hero for student council president than someone actually capable of running things.
The best thing yet on Fred here.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Hucksterbee problem
What’s the Huck up to? The tax and spend Huckster first signed the Americans for Tax Reform “no tax pledge” as means to drive around his record on taxes as Arkansas governor. Now, faced with a similarly inconvenient record on illegal immigration as governor, Mikey has decided to sign the Numbers USA “no amnesty” pledge.
What’s next? The no I don’t really believe that Mormons believe that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers pledge. Or the no I don’t think we need to amend the constitution when I said, "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family" pledge.
Look at that statement. That ought to be enough to send reasonable people scurrying to any other candidate. Not because what he says is wrong. It may be true. But I don’t want any of our current crop of Pols tampering with the Constitution. I my opinion none are smart enough for that project.
I know how it’ll turn out. Dems will send Teddy I only drown one woman in the back of my car Kennedy and Chuckles Schemer to conference with Lindsey Grahmnesty and John to hell with the First Amendment McCain and our Constitution will come out reading like Mao’s little red book. Grahmnesty and McCain will tell us what a bipartisan triumph the project was and how the rest of us should just go along. We should all be willing to give up freedom for the sake of bipartisanship. We have to be willing to compromise. BS.
I don’t trust Grahmnesty, McCainiac or Hucksterbee.
What’s next? The no I don’t really believe that Mormons believe that Jesus and Lucifer are brothers pledge. Or the no I don’t think we need to amend the constitution when I said, "I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family" pledge.
Look at that statement. That ought to be enough to send reasonable people scurrying to any other candidate. Not because what he says is wrong. It may be true. But I don’t want any of our current crop of Pols tampering with the Constitution. I my opinion none are smart enough for that project.
I know how it’ll turn out. Dems will send Teddy I only drown one woman in the back of my car Kennedy and Chuckles Schemer to conference with Lindsey Grahmnesty and John to hell with the First Amendment McCain and our Constitution will come out reading like Mao’s little red book. Grahmnesty and McCain will tell us what a bipartisan triumph the project was and how the rest of us should just go along. We should all be willing to give up freedom for the sake of bipartisanship. We have to be willing to compromise. BS.
I don’t trust Grahmnesty, McCainiac or Hucksterbee.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
It's on to SC
STOP THE PRESSES! Lex was wrong, but only half wrong. In the post just under, Lex predicted that McCain would carry Mich. He didn’t. Lex was wrong. But Lex also predicted Romney would get a plurality of the Republican vote. He did. Lex also predicted that McCain would get more Democrat and Independent votes. He did. There just weren’t enough of them off-set Romney’s lead among Republicans.
Now the McCainiacs are touting the loss as win because it demonstrates McCain’s appeal among Democrats and Independents. Too bad there’s no such thing as a Democrat/Independent primary. If there were, such logic would be sensible.
I hope my guy, Fred, takes off in SC and sweeps super Tuesday. That is an unlikely scenario. Thompson and Romney are likely to split the conservative vote leaving an open field to Giuliani and McCain. Rudy has all but disappeared. That leaves us with McCain.
But enough about us, let’s talk about the Dems. They’re in a mess as well, a three man race where a doofus like Edwards gets to play king maker. At last night’s debate the Shrillda Beast called Bush “pathetic” for “begging” for more oil from the Saudis. Well, blow me down! I agree with her. The Beast went on to say that the US needed an energy policy - the comprehensive type of course. Any time you hear the word “comprehensive” associated with a government program, think Rube Goldberg.
No one asked Shrillda about Clinton’s “comprehensive energy plan” during Bill’s eight years as president. No one asked her about more oil drilling, nuclear power or clean coal. See when Dems talk “comprehensive energy plan” they’re talking about forcing everyone – but them - to use compact florescent light bulbs, government regulating the temperature inside your house, taxing oil companies out of business and forcing us to drive cars that will resemble Wiley E. Coyote on a pair of rocket powered roller skates with a helmet and a pair of goggles.
How about we develop our own resources to meet current needs while funding a robust R&D program to meet next generation energy requirements? If we passed legislation to open ANWR and off shore oil deposits, while approving a robust nuclear power program and clean coal technology, OPEC oil prices would drop 15% before we sunk the first well.
It’s on to SC. Go to Fred ’08 and donate a sawbuck for the red pickup.
Now the McCainiacs are touting the loss as win because it demonstrates McCain’s appeal among Democrats and Independents. Too bad there’s no such thing as a Democrat/Independent primary. If there were, such logic would be sensible.
I hope my guy, Fred, takes off in SC and sweeps super Tuesday. That is an unlikely scenario. Thompson and Romney are likely to split the conservative vote leaving an open field to Giuliani and McCain. Rudy has all but disappeared. That leaves us with McCain.
But enough about us, let’s talk about the Dems. They’re in a mess as well, a three man race where a doofus like Edwards gets to play king maker. At last night’s debate the Shrillda Beast called Bush “pathetic” for “begging” for more oil from the Saudis. Well, blow me down! I agree with her. The Beast went on to say that the US needed an energy policy - the comprehensive type of course. Any time you hear the word “comprehensive” associated with a government program, think Rube Goldberg.
No one asked Shrillda about Clinton’s “comprehensive energy plan” during Bill’s eight years as president. No one asked her about more oil drilling, nuclear power or clean coal. See when Dems talk “comprehensive energy plan” they’re talking about forcing everyone – but them - to use compact florescent light bulbs, government regulating the temperature inside your house, taxing oil companies out of business and forcing us to drive cars that will resemble Wiley E. Coyote on a pair of rocket powered roller skates with a helmet and a pair of goggles.
How about we develop our own resources to meet current needs while funding a robust R&D program to meet next generation energy requirements? If we passed legislation to open ANWR and off shore oil deposits, while approving a robust nuclear power program and clean coal technology, OPEC oil prices would drop 15% before we sunk the first well.
It’s on to SC. Go to Fred ’08 and donate a sawbuck for the red pickup.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A Tale of Two Phonies
I predict that McCain will lose the Republican vote but still carry Mich in tonight’s “Republican primary.” Whoa Nelly! How can that be? Because the Mich Republican Party, like the New Hampshire Republican Party, is willing to let Independents and Democrats pick the Republican candidate.
That’s how Democrat lite McCain won last year’s primaries in those states. To compound the problem for conservative Americans, the Dems don’t have anyone on the ballot in Mich besides the Shrillda Beast. Given she is a certain winner, Dem are more likely to stray in and cast a ballot for the member of their party running in the Republican primary - McCain.
OK fine. There is no way to change the process now. But all of the pundits are claiming that Romney is through if doesn’t win tonight. Odd, isn’t it, that four states into a 50 state process, the guy with the most Republican votes would be considered out of the Republican primary. Some might call such a system broken.
Now McCain is upping the ante. In Mich he’s claiming to be the Conservative. He says, “I am pro-life, pro-defense, anti-regulation, anti-taxes, by any conservative measure you have." You’re also the most anti-First Amendment, pro open borders, pro environmental whacko by any measure Lex has. And if you’re so anti-tax, why did vote AGAINST the Bush tax cuts?
So conservatives are caught between a Rockhead (McCain) and a Huckster (Huckabee). Romney and Thompson are fracturing the conservative vote so that McCain can sweep to victory on the backs of Independents and Democrats. According to the MSM, Romney is out if he doesn’t win Mich and Thompson is out if he doesn’t win SC. Rudy’s done if doesn’t win FL. That’ll leave conservatives with a choice between McCain and Huckabee.
Now I know how Brittney Spears’ kids feel, forced to choose between two irresponsible phonies.
That’s how Democrat lite McCain won last year’s primaries in those states. To compound the problem for conservative Americans, the Dems don’t have anyone on the ballot in Mich besides the Shrillda Beast. Given she is a certain winner, Dem are more likely to stray in and cast a ballot for the member of their party running in the Republican primary - McCain.
OK fine. There is no way to change the process now. But all of the pundits are claiming that Romney is through if doesn’t win tonight. Odd, isn’t it, that four states into a 50 state process, the guy with the most Republican votes would be considered out of the Republican primary. Some might call such a system broken.
Now McCain is upping the ante. In Mich he’s claiming to be the Conservative. He says, “I am pro-life, pro-defense, anti-regulation, anti-taxes, by any conservative measure you have." You’re also the most anti-First Amendment, pro open borders, pro environmental whacko by any measure Lex has. And if you’re so anti-tax, why did vote AGAINST the Bush tax cuts?
So conservatives are caught between a Rockhead (McCain) and a Huckster (Huckabee). Romney and Thompson are fracturing the conservative vote so that McCain can sweep to victory on the backs of Independents and Democrats. According to the MSM, Romney is out if he doesn’t win Mich and Thompson is out if he doesn’t win SC. Rudy’s done if doesn’t win FL. That’ll leave conservatives with a choice between McCain and Huckabee.
Now I know how Brittney Spears’ kids feel, forced to choose between two irresponsible phonies.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Voter fraud is real
On Jan 12, 2008 Ft. Wayne’s local fish wrap, The Journal Gazette – aka The Daily Punctilio - printed the piece below regarding the Supreme Court case revolving around Indiana’s voter ID law.
SECRETARY of State Todd Rokita has been perhaps the state’s most vocal advocate of the voter ID law that makes Indiana one of only three states requiring voters to produce a photo ID.
Rokita used Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionally of the law to tout the law again – and to heighten his profile – with a news conference on the steps outside the Supreme Court in Washington.
In a news release issued Monday, Rokita, a Republican, repeated some of his same, tired arguments to defend an unnecessary law intended to disenfranchise some Democrats. And he added a unique one:
“In-person fraud, or identity theft – which is what this is, occurs in all facets of our lives. Unfortunately, the fastest-growing crime in the nation does not stop at the polling booth,” Rokita was quoted as saying.
Most Hoosiers understand that identity theft occurs when a criminal gets credit or otherwise incurs bills under another person’s name.
With identity theft becoming a growing concern and gaining public awareness, Rokita saw a chance to bring supposed voter fraud – which has never been proven – under the identity-theft label.
Lex fired off this response to the JG’s tripe.
Re: Furthermore Jan 12, 2008
If you type the words “voter fraud” into the Yahoo search engine, you’ll get about 26,300,000 listings. Given that volume of writing on this subject, there must be at least a hint of the problem around.
But what really struck me were your words “…an unnecessary law intended to disenfranchise some Democrats” to describe Public Law 109-2005, which requires a photo ID.
Why is it always only Democrats who are being disenfranchised? Florida Democrats complained during the 2000 election that they were disenfranchised. Apparently they were not clever enough to follow the big black arrow next to their candidate’s name and punch out the corresponding chad on the ballot designed by DEMOCRATS.
I don’t know anyone in my circle of family and friends obtuse enough to foul up such a simple process, foolish enough to admit it if they did or arrogant enough to blame the mistake on someone else. Yet Democrats proudly wear being “disenfranchised” by a “butterfly ballot” as a badge of honor.
Now Democrats believe that getting up off the couch to obtain a free ID to verify that voters are US citizens living in the precincts in which they are voting is just too onerous a task. It apparently is just too much trouble to get an ID in order to protect and exercise the very right they supposedly hold so dear.
Voter fraud is a bipartisan activity. Because it is “fraud,” it’s not always easy to spot, but because the fraud must be proven to be “willful,” it’s always difficult prove. Voter fraud, rampant identity fraud and the fact that we have between 12-20 million illegal aliens running around the country ought to cause reasonable people to favor taking steps to safeguard our voting process before we lose it to criminals.
SECRETARY of State Todd Rokita has been perhaps the state’s most vocal advocate of the voter ID law that makes Indiana one of only three states requiring voters to produce a photo ID.
Rokita used Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionally of the law to tout the law again – and to heighten his profile – with a news conference on the steps outside the Supreme Court in Washington.
In a news release issued Monday, Rokita, a Republican, repeated some of his same, tired arguments to defend an unnecessary law intended to disenfranchise some Democrats. And he added a unique one:
“In-person fraud, or identity theft – which is what this is, occurs in all facets of our lives. Unfortunately, the fastest-growing crime in the nation does not stop at the polling booth,” Rokita was quoted as saying.
Most Hoosiers understand that identity theft occurs when a criminal gets credit or otherwise incurs bills under another person’s name.
With identity theft becoming a growing concern and gaining public awareness, Rokita saw a chance to bring supposed voter fraud – which has never been proven – under the identity-theft label.
Lex fired off this response to the JG’s tripe.
Re: Furthermore Jan 12, 2008
If you type the words “voter fraud” into the Yahoo search engine, you’ll get about 26,300,000 listings. Given that volume of writing on this subject, there must be at least a hint of the problem around.
But what really struck me were your words “…an unnecessary law intended to disenfranchise some Democrats” to describe Public Law 109-2005, which requires a photo ID.
Why is it always only Democrats who are being disenfranchised? Florida Democrats complained during the 2000 election that they were disenfranchised. Apparently they were not clever enough to follow the big black arrow next to their candidate’s name and punch out the corresponding chad on the ballot designed by DEMOCRATS.
I don’t know anyone in my circle of family and friends obtuse enough to foul up such a simple process, foolish enough to admit it if they did or arrogant enough to blame the mistake on someone else. Yet Democrats proudly wear being “disenfranchised” by a “butterfly ballot” as a badge of honor.
Now Democrats believe that getting up off the couch to obtain a free ID to verify that voters are US citizens living in the precincts in which they are voting is just too onerous a task. It apparently is just too much trouble to get an ID in order to protect and exercise the very right they supposedly hold so dear.
Voter fraud is a bipartisan activity. Because it is “fraud,” it’s not always easy to spot, but because the fraud must be proven to be “willful,” it’s always difficult prove. Voter fraud, rampant identity fraud and the fact that we have between 12-20 million illegal aliens running around the country ought to cause reasonable people to favor taking steps to safeguard our voting process before we lose it to criminals.
Friday, January 11, 2008
The Republican debate
I watched the debate last night. Yeah, life at Lex’s house is that boring. Any hooo. Here’s how I saw it.
Fred Thompson won. He is plugged into the issues and has common sense answers to the problems confronting America. I was happy to see him come out swinging at Huckabee as a Dem in disguise and run off a rather long list of issues to back it up.
Mitt Romney - as always – was second. The big complaint about Romney is that he comes off too smooth – like the smartest kid in the class. All of that is probably true. He is smooth and he is probably the smartest guy in whatever room happens to walk into. It shouldn’t be a disadvantage to be articulate and smart. Romney’s smoothness probably was refined as a business CEO where lose talk causes companies to go broke. How many times have we seen the Fed Chairman say something stupid and then watch as the market drops 200 points because of it? Romney doesn’t make those mistakes. That should be a plus. But when thoughtful articulate responses come from a Mormon --- ooooooh he’s just too smooth.
Rudy Giuliani was as tough as he needed to be for now. He doesn’t really start running for another month. And people thought that Thompson got into the race late.
I’m sorry, but the more I see of Huckabee the more he strikes me as a flim-flam man. You know the type. You go to buy a car and the salesman says, “Where you from friend?” You say Columbus. And the salesman says right on cue, “Columbus?! Why, I have people over in Columbus.” As you leaving, you hear the same salsman with another customer, "Where you from friend?" Ft. Wayne comes the answer followed immediately by "Ft. Wayne?! Why I have people over in Ft. Wayne." To me, Huckabee is the same. “So you’re a Christian?! Why, I’m a former Baptist minister, you know. Lucky thing WE don’t believe Jesus and Lucifer are brothers like some of those other crazy religions – Mormons – isn’t it? By the way my fellow Christian believer, Isn’t that fellow Mitt Romney a Mormon? Anyway religion should play no part in this election.” P-H-O-N-Y.
If McCain calls me “friend” one more time my head will explode. Look everyone thinks McCain is some kind of hero. Fine. Forget that there were 2 million plus heroes doing their duty at the same time. McCain strikes me as guy who pulled a child out of a well when he was 20. Then, when he was 40, he burns the entire town down while buring dry leaves on a windy day. Now he’s 60 and wants to be mayor. So he reminds everyone about the time he pulled a kid out of a well when he was 20. The fire never comes up. McCain served and did his duty…great. Then he came home and sponsored an assault on the First Amendment. If he’s willing to attack the First Amendment, what’s to say the Second Amendment isn’t next? He voted against the very tax cuts he now wants to make permanent. Then he sponsored a bill advocating open borders and amnesty for 12 million illegals. But because he was a hero 40 years ago, many think he should be president. Does the phrase, “what have you done for me lately” strike a chord?
Ron Paul continues to participate in and spice up these debates. While Dems and the MSM keep the Dem’s crazy uncle – Denis Kucinich - locked in a closet, the Reps and the MSM insist on rolling the Republican’s crazy uncle out for Christmas dinner. Who is more compassionate?
Fred Thompson won. He is plugged into the issues and has common sense answers to the problems confronting America. I was happy to see him come out swinging at Huckabee as a Dem in disguise and run off a rather long list of issues to back it up.
Mitt Romney - as always – was second. The big complaint about Romney is that he comes off too smooth – like the smartest kid in the class. All of that is probably true. He is smooth and he is probably the smartest guy in whatever room happens to walk into. It shouldn’t be a disadvantage to be articulate and smart. Romney’s smoothness probably was refined as a business CEO where lose talk causes companies to go broke. How many times have we seen the Fed Chairman say something stupid and then watch as the market drops 200 points because of it? Romney doesn’t make those mistakes. That should be a plus. But when thoughtful articulate responses come from a Mormon --- ooooooh he’s just too smooth.
Rudy Giuliani was as tough as he needed to be for now. He doesn’t really start running for another month. And people thought that Thompson got into the race late.
I’m sorry, but the more I see of Huckabee the more he strikes me as a flim-flam man. You know the type. You go to buy a car and the salesman says, “Where you from friend?” You say Columbus. And the salesman says right on cue, “Columbus?! Why, I have people over in Columbus.” As you leaving, you hear the same salsman with another customer, "Where you from friend?" Ft. Wayne comes the answer followed immediately by "Ft. Wayne?! Why I have people over in Ft. Wayne." To me, Huckabee is the same. “So you’re a Christian?! Why, I’m a former Baptist minister, you know. Lucky thing WE don’t believe Jesus and Lucifer are brothers like some of those other crazy religions – Mormons – isn’t it? By the way my fellow Christian believer, Isn’t that fellow Mitt Romney a Mormon? Anyway religion should play no part in this election.” P-H-O-N-Y.
If McCain calls me “friend” one more time my head will explode. Look everyone thinks McCain is some kind of hero. Fine. Forget that there were 2 million plus heroes doing their duty at the same time. McCain strikes me as guy who pulled a child out of a well when he was 20. Then, when he was 40, he burns the entire town down while buring dry leaves on a windy day. Now he’s 60 and wants to be mayor. So he reminds everyone about the time he pulled a kid out of a well when he was 20. The fire never comes up. McCain served and did his duty…great. Then he came home and sponsored an assault on the First Amendment. If he’s willing to attack the First Amendment, what’s to say the Second Amendment isn’t next? He voted against the very tax cuts he now wants to make permanent. Then he sponsored a bill advocating open borders and amnesty for 12 million illegals. But because he was a hero 40 years ago, many think he should be president. Does the phrase, “what have you done for me lately” strike a chord?
Ron Paul continues to participate in and spice up these debates. While Dems and the MSM keep the Dem’s crazy uncle – Denis Kucinich - locked in a closet, the Reps and the MSM insist on rolling the Republican’s crazy uncle out for Christmas dinner. Who is more compassionate?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
On Taxes
Of the candidates, Fred Thompson has the most aggressive most workable solution to get the federal government off of the backs of taxpayers. He calls for making the Bush tax cuts permanent, ending the death tax, killing the Alternative Minimum Tax, a reduction in the corporate tax structure from 35 -25% and a simplified voluntary two tier flat tax arrangement. Under Thompson’s tax plan, joint filers making $100,000 or less or singles making $50,000 or less would pay 10%. Anyone over the $100,000/$50,000 thresholds would pay 25%. Taxpayers would get an automatic standard deduction of $25,000 or $12,500 as well as a personal exemption of $3,500. Based on these figure a family of four making $39,000 or less would pay no federal income tax. The voluntary part comes in when Thompson allows the taxpayer to choose between his new plan and the existing 300,000 pages of federal tax law. Thompson gets a 9.
The Giuliani tax plan is similar to Thompson’s:
The Giuliani tax cut plan would extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts immediately; eliminate the Death Tax completely; lower the capital gains and dividends tax rate to 10% and index capital gains to inflation; lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%; and permanently index the Alternative Minimum Tax to inflation with a plan for eventual elimination. The Giuliani tax cut plan also contains a particularly bold pro-growth tax simplification strategy that would give taxpayers the option of opting into a simple tax plan in which their taxes could be done on one page. Instead of the current tax behemoth, the voluntary tax plan would constitute across the board cuts in marginal tax rates by proposing three simple rates of 10%, 15%, and 30%. Rudy gets an 8.
Romney like Giuliani has a good track record on taxes. Romney’s tax plan has the same boilerplate stuff as Thompson’s and Giuliani’s but has the added advantage a of zero tax on capital gains. The big draw back is its lack of simplification of the overall code. Mitt gets a 6.
Huckabee is next. He proposes a fair tax or national consumption or sales tax of - depending on who you read - between 23 and 25%. Of course certain life sustaining products like food would be exempt. This is the best form of taxation because it puts the tax payer in the position of determining how much federal tax he is willing to pay. If he wants a new car but determines that the 23% surcharge is out of the question for the time being, he just doesn’t buy the car. The income tax is ripped from your wallet whether you think you can afford it or not. The problem with the fair tax is that it will first require the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, which gives the government the right to tax income. That in itself would be a long and arduous process. Given government ineptitude, what would likely result is both a consumption and an income tax. I like the fair tax but its implementation strikes me this way:
I need a quart of milk one night.
Fred Thompson says, OK, I’ll run over to Walgreen’s and get you one. I’ll be back in ten minutes.
Mike Huckabee says, you know the best milk is over in Switzerland. I’ll plan a trip to Switzerland. I’ll get a taxi. Go to the airport. Hop a flight to Switzerland. Get a hotel room. Take a couple of days sightseeing. Buy the best milk available. Hop a flight back. Get a taxi and deliver your milk in about a month. The milk will of course be sour by the time the trip is complete.
Huckabee’s idea gets a 10 but Huckabee gets a 2 because the plan is not workable. And me being ever the cynic, believe he wants something that sounds good but is totally unworkable so that the status quo remains in place. And then there’s his tax record in Arkansas, which ain’t good and is why I remain a cynic about Huckabee.
Then there’s John I voted against the tax cuts because they weren’t perfect McCain. That is leatherhead, my way or the highway thinking typical of McCain. I didn’t get the spending cuts, so I’m not voting for the tax cuts. Weird huh. So when the single pump fire truck shows up to put out McCain’s house fire, he’s going to send them away because he didn’t get the four battalions of fire equipment he had requested. McCain gets a -4. Not only for being wrong about the Bush tax cuts but for being too stupid or too stubborn and arrogant to admit it.
All the Dems are going to start off by taxing us into a depression. The Shrillda Beats is our best bet on the Dem side because she has no core beliefs and will be the same poll driven triangulating calculating dope that her husband was.
The Giuliani tax plan is similar to Thompson’s:
The Giuliani tax cut plan would extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts immediately; eliminate the Death Tax completely; lower the capital gains and dividends tax rate to 10% and index capital gains to inflation; lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%; and permanently index the Alternative Minimum Tax to inflation with a plan for eventual elimination. The Giuliani tax cut plan also contains a particularly bold pro-growth tax simplification strategy that would give taxpayers the option of opting into a simple tax plan in which their taxes could be done on one page. Instead of the current tax behemoth, the voluntary tax plan would constitute across the board cuts in marginal tax rates by proposing three simple rates of 10%, 15%, and 30%. Rudy gets an 8.
Romney like Giuliani has a good track record on taxes. Romney’s tax plan has the same boilerplate stuff as Thompson’s and Giuliani’s but has the added advantage a of zero tax on capital gains. The big draw back is its lack of simplification of the overall code. Mitt gets a 6.
Huckabee is next. He proposes a fair tax or national consumption or sales tax of - depending on who you read - between 23 and 25%. Of course certain life sustaining products like food would be exempt. This is the best form of taxation because it puts the tax payer in the position of determining how much federal tax he is willing to pay. If he wants a new car but determines that the 23% surcharge is out of the question for the time being, he just doesn’t buy the car. The income tax is ripped from your wallet whether you think you can afford it or not. The problem with the fair tax is that it will first require the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, which gives the government the right to tax income. That in itself would be a long and arduous process. Given government ineptitude, what would likely result is both a consumption and an income tax. I like the fair tax but its implementation strikes me this way:
I need a quart of milk one night.
Fred Thompson says, OK, I’ll run over to Walgreen’s and get you one. I’ll be back in ten minutes.
Mike Huckabee says, you know the best milk is over in Switzerland. I’ll plan a trip to Switzerland. I’ll get a taxi. Go to the airport. Hop a flight to Switzerland. Get a hotel room. Take a couple of days sightseeing. Buy the best milk available. Hop a flight back. Get a taxi and deliver your milk in about a month. The milk will of course be sour by the time the trip is complete.
Huckabee’s idea gets a 10 but Huckabee gets a 2 because the plan is not workable. And me being ever the cynic, believe he wants something that sounds good but is totally unworkable so that the status quo remains in place. And then there’s his tax record in Arkansas, which ain’t good and is why I remain a cynic about Huckabee.
Then there’s John I voted against the tax cuts because they weren’t perfect McCain. That is leatherhead, my way or the highway thinking typical of McCain. I didn’t get the spending cuts, so I’m not voting for the tax cuts. Weird huh. So when the single pump fire truck shows up to put out McCain’s house fire, he’s going to send them away because he didn’t get the four battalions of fire equipment he had requested. McCain gets a -4. Not only for being wrong about the Bush tax cuts but for being too stupid or too stubborn and arrogant to admit it.
All the Dems are going to start off by taxing us into a depression. The Shrillda Beats is our best bet on the Dem side because she has no core beliefs and will be the same poll driven triangulating calculating dope that her husband was.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The comeback
She’s baaaaaaack!
The absolute truth about the Shrillda Beast’s break down is located here http://www.thenoseonyourface.com/2008/01/09/hillary-clintons-emotional-press-conference-as-seen-from-the-extraterrestrial-spacecraft-that-controls-her/and is MUST viewing if you’re interested in the truth. Anyone who bought into that line of BS, I’ve got million dollar check that you’ve just won. For a small fee, I’ll send it along to you. It was a planted question. It was a rehearsed response. The same is true with the “iron my shirt” guys. I’m sure that the Shrillda Beast’s staff just let’s something like that happen – right in front of the camera. Think about it. I’ll believe it when I see guys with signs that read,
“Support women’s Lib: Marry a rapist?” or
“Invest in cattle futures” or
“First, we fire the travel office” or
“Paula, Jennifer, Kathleen and Wanita who?” or
“I’m so smart even George Bush fooled me” or
“Now, where did those billing records go?”
So, of all of the things that could have appeared on that sign to hurt the Shrillda Beast, what shows up, something that actually helps her. Oh Yeah, that was spontaneous.
Then there are the Republicans. After getting the Shrillda Beast prediction wrong by about a mile, the pundits now think Mitt is dead in the water because he finished second to McCain in New Hampshire – where independents not Republicans carried McCain’s water. But Mitt is dead according to the chattering class. That is in spite of Mitt trouncing McCain in Iowa, Mitt winning Wyoming and having more Republican delegates, votes and money than any other candidate. That makes sense, why not quit while you’re a head.
Were I Mitt, I’d be looking at what would happen if I stayed in the race and watched McCain, Giuliani, Thompson and Huckabee impale themselves on one another while I ran a consistent second. The worst case is that I might be the king maker at the convention.
The absolute truth about the Shrillda Beast’s break down is located here http://www.thenoseonyourface.com/2008/01/09/hillary-clintons-emotional-press-conference-as-seen-from-the-extraterrestrial-spacecraft-that-controls-her/and is MUST viewing if you’re interested in the truth. Anyone who bought into that line of BS, I’ve got million dollar check that you’ve just won. For a small fee, I’ll send it along to you. It was a planted question. It was a rehearsed response. The same is true with the “iron my shirt” guys. I’m sure that the Shrillda Beast’s staff just let’s something like that happen – right in front of the camera. Think about it. I’ll believe it when I see guys with signs that read,
“Support women’s Lib: Marry a rapist?” or
“Invest in cattle futures” or
“First, we fire the travel office” or
“Paula, Jennifer, Kathleen and Wanita who?” or
“I’m so smart even George Bush fooled me” or
“Now, where did those billing records go?”
So, of all of the things that could have appeared on that sign to hurt the Shrillda Beast, what shows up, something that actually helps her. Oh Yeah, that was spontaneous.
Then there are the Republicans. After getting the Shrillda Beast prediction wrong by about a mile, the pundits now think Mitt is dead in the water because he finished second to McCain in New Hampshire – where independents not Republicans carried McCain’s water. But Mitt is dead according to the chattering class. That is in spite of Mitt trouncing McCain in Iowa, Mitt winning Wyoming and having more Republican delegates, votes and money than any other candidate. That makes sense, why not quit while you’re a head.
Were I Mitt, I’d be looking at what would happen if I stayed in the race and watched McCain, Giuliani, Thompson and Huckabee impale themselves on one another while I ran a consistent second. The worst case is that I might be the king maker at the convention.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Territory
John drinks the global warming Kool Aid.
Rating the candidates on immigration and energy independence.
Fred Thompson has gotten the illegal alien thing right from the start. Build the fence and enforce the law. As Thompson says there’s no need to “round up” the 12 million or so illegals already here because once you begin to enforce the law, thereby removing the incentive to come or stay here illegally, the illegals will deport themselves. With regard to energy independence Thompson again has it right. Develop our own resources to include domestic oil, nuclear and clean coal. He’s not buying into the global warming Kyoto BS either. On a scale of 1 to 10 Fred gets 9.9.
Mitt Romney is the next best bet on this issue. He’s got the immigration issue down and is probably best suited to chart a course to energy independence. Mitt gets a 9.8 because Fred’s my guy.
Next is Huckabee. He is a late convert to immigration reform and has gone the extra step of calling for the repeal of the anchor baby language in the Fourteenth Amendment. I’m against any such amendment before it is tested in court as to whether or not such language applies offspring of people who entered the country illegally. Who knows maybe the Supremes will have a lucid moment and say, “no I don’t think this applies to criminals.” Next, it may become a moot point if Thompson’s self deportation theory works. Huckabee thinks we need to be energy independent in 10 years and offer a huge cash prize for the first viable car to get 100 mpg. Since I called for the same thing, I have to give him credit. But he ruins that bit of brilliance buy saying something about a duty to God to reduce global warming. The idea of becoming energy independent was to stop sending US dollars to the Middle East where they are used to kill us. Huck gets a 5.
Last is John they are all God’s children McCain. Hey John, let’s just say you’re right, they’re all God’s children. Do we just open the borders to any uneducated low skill, criminally intent person who wants to wonder in? Castro emptied his jails and sailed his criminals to Florida. That worked out well for everyone. How is your idea any different? Then he’s gotten the harebrained idea that by paying a fine the illegals aren’t being offered an amnesty. He’s right. They are being offered - at a greatly reduced price - the most valuable commodity we possess – citizenship. And he’s selling it cheap - $5,000. Hey John if you want to sell US citizenship, why not start with the people waiting in line legally? Many would probably be willing to buy. Why start with the group whose first act in America was to break our laws? John, like Huck, has had an awakening though. Now he’s the Johnny come lately tough guy on immigration. I’m not buying it John. If the American people are dumb enough to elect you, you’ll give your amnesty and claim it was bi-partisan and the best we could do. Then, as pictured above, there’s John’s buying into the whole global warming hoax. He's probably more interested in achieving energy independence by making us all walk than finding more oil. John gets a -3.
Dems would be far worse on this issue than any of the Reps. We’d have open borders. Oil exploration and nuclear power would be all but banned and taxes on what energy remains would have us all peddling a bike to work.
Of the Dems, I suppose the Shrillda Beast would be the best. I say that only because she, like Bill, would be maniacally poll driven, thereby giving us – the people - at least chance to influence the action. Given that, she may be better on immigration than McCain. 
How they stack up on terror
I believe that Rudy Giuliani would be the toughest guy on terror. I don’t know why. I just get that feeling. We know he’d stay on offense and I just get the feeling that he’d look his cabinet in the eyes and tell every one of them that stopping and killing terrorists is job one. I think he’d allocate the resources necessary and not be one bit squeamish about terrorists being forced to listen to Keith Olbermann re-runs late into the night – the worst kind of torture I can think of - to get information. On a scale of one to ten, I’d give Giuliani a 9.9.
Fred Thompson is my second choice among Republican candidates. He gets it. He even articulates it well - not as well as Giuliani - if you can get from sentence to sentence without dozing off. On O’Reilly last night he knocked it out of the park. He described the number one issue of this election as the threat of Islamo-Terror-Fascists using new methods and new weapons – read nukes and bio weapons – trying to destroy America. I’d give Thompson a 9.8 only because he doesn’t articulate the issue as well as Giuliani.
Mitt Romney is next only because Thompson is my guy. So, I put my guy second. Romney is an expert manager. He can identify the fire closest to his feet and is certain to allocate the necessary resources to tend to it. Romney gets a 9.79.
McCain is third. He’s probably as strong as any of the others but he doesn’t strike me as quite as willing to lay waste to terrorists as the other two. Why? Well first, he seems to think shoving bamboo under a terrorist’s fingers to get the location of the nuke set to off in a US city in an hour would violate the poor dear’s rights. Giuliani or Thompson wouldn’t wait half a second. Also, the, "I'll get bin Laden" comment strikes as Edward's, "If you elect me Christopher Reeves will walk again." Just a line of crap. Then there’s his whole, ”they are all God’s children” shpeel used by McCain in the immigration issue. I suppose that argument would have to extend to the terrorists as well. I give McCain a 9.
Last among viable GOP candidates is Huckabee. Given his record in Arkansas and his comment about shutting ‘Gitmo down, this guy is likely as not to pardon everyone held there. Then there is his whole “arrogant foreign policy,” “Bush’s bunker mentality,” and “treat them as we would want to be treated” crap. I don’t think we can afford to come out of the bunker, sit down with terrorists over green tea and biscuits and tell them we’d like to help them achieve their goals because that’s how we would want people to treat us. Huck gets 5.5.
Dems will never be able to take the terror war seriously because they will be too busy trying to turn America into a welfare state. Listen to their debates. Universal hangnail insurance gets more attention than the war on terror. They are too naive.
Shrillda Beast would be the best on this issue. Not because she gives a crap about America but rather because she cares about her legacy. Who wants the “I lost the Middle East and Europe to terrorists” legacy? I’d give the Shrillda a 5.
Obama would be next because he's inexperienced. Because he’s inexperienced, he’d have to have enough adults in the administration to guide him through the issues. I’d give Obama a 4.
Dead last would be John Edwards. This guy would be so busy redistributing everybody’s money – except his own of course - he wouldn’t care if the entire Middle East were on fire. Edwards get 1.2. The only reason he doesn’t get a zero is that he’d want oil companies to be able to do some business in the Middle East just so he could take any money that they might make and use it to finance universal tire rotation insurance.
Tomorrow, territory.
Fred Thompson is my second choice among Republican candidates. He gets it. He even articulates it well - not as well as Giuliani - if you can get from sentence to sentence without dozing off. On O’Reilly last night he knocked it out of the park. He described the number one issue of this election as the threat of Islamo-Terror-Fascists using new methods and new weapons – read nukes and bio weapons – trying to destroy America. I’d give Thompson a 9.8 only because he doesn’t articulate the issue as well as Giuliani.
Mitt Romney is next only because Thompson is my guy. So, I put my guy second. Romney is an expert manager. He can identify the fire closest to his feet and is certain to allocate the necessary resources to tend to it. Romney gets a 9.79.
McCain is third. He’s probably as strong as any of the others but he doesn’t strike me as quite as willing to lay waste to terrorists as the other two. Why? Well first, he seems to think shoving bamboo under a terrorist’s fingers to get the location of the nuke set to off in a US city in an hour would violate the poor dear’s rights. Giuliani or Thompson wouldn’t wait half a second. Also, the, "I'll get bin Laden" comment strikes as Edward's, "If you elect me Christopher Reeves will walk again." Just a line of crap. Then there’s his whole, ”they are all God’s children” shpeel used by McCain in the immigration issue. I suppose that argument would have to extend to the terrorists as well. I give McCain a 9.
Last among viable GOP candidates is Huckabee. Given his record in Arkansas and his comment about shutting ‘Gitmo down, this guy is likely as not to pardon everyone held there. Then there is his whole “arrogant foreign policy,” “Bush’s bunker mentality,” and “treat them as we would want to be treated” crap. I don’t think we can afford to come out of the bunker, sit down with terrorists over green tea and biscuits and tell them we’d like to help them achieve their goals because that’s how we would want people to treat us. Huck gets 5.5.
Dems will never be able to take the terror war seriously because they will be too busy trying to turn America into a welfare state. Listen to their debates. Universal hangnail insurance gets more attention than the war on terror. They are too naive.
Shrillda Beast would be the best on this issue. Not because she gives a crap about America but rather because she cares about her legacy. Who wants the “I lost the Middle East and Europe to terrorists” legacy? I’d give the Shrillda a 5.
Obama would be next because he's inexperienced. Because he’s inexperienced, he’d have to have enough adults in the administration to guide him through the issues. I’d give Obama a 4.
Dead last would be John Edwards. This guy would be so busy redistributing everybody’s money – except his own of course - he wouldn’t care if the entire Middle East were on fire. Edwards get 1.2. The only reason he doesn’t get a zero is that he’d want oil companies to be able to do some business in the Middle East just so he could take any money that they might make and use it to finance universal tire rotation insurance.
Tomorrow, territory.
Monday, January 07, 2008
The three Ts for candidates
Lex has broken through all the fog of presidential politics with the three big Ts. In order of importance they are:
Terrorism. Islamo-terror-fascists want to, as my man Fred Thompson has said, see a mushroom cloud over a US city. Short of that they will be happy to kill us in what ever numbers they can. And when I say “us,” I mean any and all of “us.” From a day old baby laying in a hospital bed to 90 something year old laying in a nursing home bed; from the most devout among us to those who have no religion to those don’t believe in God; Male, female or transgender (still don’t get that one); hetro, homo or bi makes no difference; skin color makes not one whit of difference; Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, Republican, Democrat or Independent; none of it matters to these homicidal maniacs. They want to kill us…any and all of us.
The candidate has to understand this one. If the candidate doesn’t get this one right, nothing else is really going to matter.
Territory. First and foremost this means enforcing our borders and enforcing our laws. Secondarily, this means using the resources provided by our territory to break our dependence on foreign oil.
Taxes. Taxes need to be kept low to keep the economy from tanking. If the economy goes, we’ll have a more isolationist mentality which will distract us from our primary goal – defeating the Islamo-terror-fascists.
Many of you are asking about that Conservative mainstay abortion. First, it doesn’t start with a T. Next, even if the Supreme Court overturned Roe today, little in the US would change with regard to abortion. That’s a nasty little secret the Libs don’t want you to know. Red states would restrict it a bit and blue states would…well what’s left to be done in blue states? Require abortion I guess. But the issue would fall to the state legislatures and as a result to the voters rather than the court and Libs can’t have that.
Tomorrow, how the candidates stack up against the three Ts.
GBBT
Terrorism. Islamo-terror-fascists want to, as my man Fred Thompson has said, see a mushroom cloud over a US city. Short of that they will be happy to kill us in what ever numbers they can. And when I say “us,” I mean any and all of “us.” From a day old baby laying in a hospital bed to 90 something year old laying in a nursing home bed; from the most devout among us to those who have no religion to those don’t believe in God; Male, female or transgender (still don’t get that one); hetro, homo or bi makes no difference; skin color makes not one whit of difference; Conservative, Liberal, Moderate, Republican, Democrat or Independent; none of it matters to these homicidal maniacs. They want to kill us…any and all of us.
The candidate has to understand this one. If the candidate doesn’t get this one right, nothing else is really going to matter.
Territory. First and foremost this means enforcing our borders and enforcing our laws. Secondarily, this means using the resources provided by our territory to break our dependence on foreign oil.
Taxes. Taxes need to be kept low to keep the economy from tanking. If the economy goes, we’ll have a more isolationist mentality which will distract us from our primary goal – defeating the Islamo-terror-fascists.
Many of you are asking about that Conservative mainstay abortion. First, it doesn’t start with a T. Next, even if the Supreme Court overturned Roe today, little in the US would change with regard to abortion. That’s a nasty little secret the Libs don’t want you to know. Red states would restrict it a bit and blue states would…well what’s left to be done in blue states? Require abortion I guess. But the issue would fall to the state legislatures and as a result to the voters rather than the court and Libs can’t have that.
Tomorrow, how the candidates stack up against the three Ts.
GBBT
Friday, January 04, 2008
McCain's the big winner
About 116,000 Rep voters (about 30,000 fewer voters than Lex’s generous model predicted yesterday) decided Huck’s the man. He finished about 10,000 votes ahead of second place finisher Mitt Romney. Using yesterday’s math, Huckabee’s margin of victory was .003% of Americans. Now the MSM is proclaiming Huck the man to beat and Romney dead in the water. Yes, 10,000 votes representing .003% of America can be described as an overwhelming victory by any standard.
I’m not so sure I’m ready to sign on with someone endorsed by the MSM, the National Education Association (Teacher’s Union) and E.J. Dionne Jr. but whose Conservative credentials are questioned by Rush Limbaugh and George Will.
My guy Fred Thompson finished slightly ahead of but in a virtual tie for third with McCain. McCain was the big winner. Here’s why:
Romney the leader in the early primary states has been knocked off by guy who realistically has no chance to win the nomination.
Rudy, the Rep national leader, didn’t contest Iowa, so was nowhere in the hunt.
The next state primary is New Hampshire, where guess what? Independents get to vote in whichever primary they want. I don’t think Conservatives – no matter what the MSM claims to contrary – think much of McCain for his assault on the First Amendment, support for open borders, anti-tax cut talk and oh yeah that Keating five thing. But Romney was damaged in Iowa. He’s in a dogfight in New Hampshire - not with Republicans but independents. Thompson has not caught on and Rudy is sitting it out until Florida.
All of this gives new life to John McCain.
So my top three guys in order, Thompson, Romney and Giuliani are already in trouble. Huckabee in my mind is a non-starter. So who is left to pick up the pieces? John I’m one of the politicians who takes the money I rail against McCain.
Some quick hits on the caucus:
I come to find out that the word “caucus” is derived from an Indian word meaning conference. The NCAA is now taking steps to ban any athletic team from a state holding a “caucus” from post season activities. In a statement released after the origin of the word was discovered, the NCAA said, “We think it’s outrageous that states would poke fun at our native Americans in such an insensitive manner.”
Some good news. We don’t have to listen to those pathetic “undecided Iowa voters” any more. Hey, I wouldn’t walk around wearing the word “undecided” like a badge of honor two hours before the election. First 90% of the “undecided” are liars. They’ve made up their minds but either like the attention or think “undecided” makes them look sophisticated. Hint, it makes you look like an indecisive moron. Which is what the other 10% who actually are “undecided” are…indecisive morons.
Bad news. We will be treated to four days of pathetic “undecided New Hampshire voters.” Who have the double indecisive moron whammy because not only do they not know who they will vote for but don’t even know which party they will vote for. And the MSM caters to these idiots as if they were prophets and/or oracles. How can these people be taken seriously? They are idiots.
GBBT
I’m not so sure I’m ready to sign on with someone endorsed by the MSM, the National Education Association (Teacher’s Union) and E.J. Dionne Jr. but whose Conservative credentials are questioned by Rush Limbaugh and George Will.
My guy Fred Thompson finished slightly ahead of but in a virtual tie for third with McCain. McCain was the big winner. Here’s why:
Romney the leader in the early primary states has been knocked off by guy who realistically has no chance to win the nomination.
Rudy, the Rep national leader, didn’t contest Iowa, so was nowhere in the hunt.
The next state primary is New Hampshire, where guess what? Independents get to vote in whichever primary they want. I don’t think Conservatives – no matter what the MSM claims to contrary – think much of McCain for his assault on the First Amendment, support for open borders, anti-tax cut talk and oh yeah that Keating five thing. But Romney was damaged in Iowa. He’s in a dogfight in New Hampshire - not with Republicans but independents. Thompson has not caught on and Rudy is sitting it out until Florida.
All of this gives new life to John McCain.
So my top three guys in order, Thompson, Romney and Giuliani are already in trouble. Huckabee in my mind is a non-starter. So who is left to pick up the pieces? John I’m one of the politicians who takes the money I rail against McCain.
Some quick hits on the caucus:
I come to find out that the word “caucus” is derived from an Indian word meaning conference. The NCAA is now taking steps to ban any athletic team from a state holding a “caucus” from post season activities. In a statement released after the origin of the word was discovered, the NCAA said, “We think it’s outrageous that states would poke fun at our native Americans in such an insensitive manner.”
Some good news. We don’t have to listen to those pathetic “undecided Iowa voters” any more. Hey, I wouldn’t walk around wearing the word “undecided” like a badge of honor two hours before the election. First 90% of the “undecided” are liars. They’ve made up their minds but either like the attention or think “undecided” makes them look sophisticated. Hint, it makes you look like an indecisive moron. Which is what the other 10% who actually are “undecided” are…indecisive morons.
Bad news. We will be treated to four days of pathetic “undecided New Hampshire voters.” Who have the double indecisive moron whammy because not only do they not know who they will vote for but don’t even know which party they will vote for. And the MSM caters to these idiots as if they were prophets and/or oracles. How can these people be taken seriously? They are idiots.
GBBT
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Iowa in perspective
Let’s put Iowa in perspective.
Iowa state population is 2,982,085 or about 1% of America’s 303,619,006 total population.
Of the 2.9 million Iowans about 2.3 million are voting of voting age or about .7% of the total American population.
Of those of voting age, given a generous turnout of 250,000, about 10%, of Iowans will participate in tonight’s caucus. (Note: Most news agencies say turnout among eligible voters is usually about 6%.) Anyway voters in Iowa will constitute about .08% of the total American population.
If the vote is divided equally among Dems and Reps, or about 125,000 each, .04% of the total American population will be choosing candidates for the major parties.
If polling is correct that it’ll take about one third of that vote to win the caucus, or about 42,000 votes. So, about .014% of Americans are choosing Iowa’s delegates to the two major conventions.
Iowa’s 56 Dem delegates comprise just over 1% of the 4,366 total Dem delegates. The 40 Rep delegates will comprise just over 1% of the total 2,509 total Rep delegates.
Then there are the vagaries of voting in the caucus system. It’s not a vote where you get up early. Drive to your designated polling place. Cast your vote in five minutes and go to work – if you’re a Rep. If you’re Dem, you get on a bus at about four in the afternoon and drive from polling place to polling place casting multiple votes and bitching about the long lines caused by several Dem buses pulling up to the same polling place at the same time.
In the caucuses you have to go some guys house at 6:30 pm and be brow beaten by some loudmouth Pol for a couple of hours before casting your ballot – Dem votes are public and like all Dem votes, you get to vote several times.
It’s nuts. But the MSM is agog over the process because they think it gives them an opportunity to pick the winners. But, given the numbers and the process, this vote should not mean much of anything.
Iowa state population is 2,982,085 or about 1% of America’s 303,619,006 total population.
Of the 2.9 million Iowans about 2.3 million are voting of voting age or about .7% of the total American population.
Of those of voting age, given a generous turnout of 250,000, about 10%, of Iowans will participate in tonight’s caucus. (Note: Most news agencies say turnout among eligible voters is usually about 6%.) Anyway voters in Iowa will constitute about .08% of the total American population.
If the vote is divided equally among Dems and Reps, or about 125,000 each, .04% of the total American population will be choosing candidates for the major parties.
If polling is correct that it’ll take about one third of that vote to win the caucus, or about 42,000 votes. So, about .014% of Americans are choosing Iowa’s delegates to the two major conventions.
Iowa’s 56 Dem delegates comprise just over 1% of the 4,366 total Dem delegates. The 40 Rep delegates will comprise just over 1% of the total 2,509 total Rep delegates.
Then there are the vagaries of voting in the caucus system. It’s not a vote where you get up early. Drive to your designated polling place. Cast your vote in five minutes and go to work – if you’re a Rep. If you’re Dem, you get on a bus at about four in the afternoon and drive from polling place to polling place casting multiple votes and bitching about the long lines caused by several Dem buses pulling up to the same polling place at the same time.
In the caucuses you have to go some guys house at 6:30 pm and be brow beaten by some loudmouth Pol for a couple of hours before casting your ballot – Dem votes are public and like all Dem votes, you get to vote several times.
It’s nuts. But the MSM is agog over the process because they think it gives them an opportunity to pick the winners. But, given the numbers and the process, this vote should not mean much of anything.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Dump Murtha
A comment on the post two below. If ever there was a good place to drop a C note this might be it.
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Stephen R. Maloney said...
hope you and all your readers will offer whatever support you can to Murtha's opponent, Lt. Col. Bill Russell. You can do so by going to his web site at: www.williamrussellforcongress.com. I write regularly about the Russell-Murtha race. Thanks to all supporters of the "Haditha Marines."
steve maloney
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Stephen R. Maloney said...
hope you and all your readers will offer whatever support you can to Murtha's opponent, Lt. Col. Bill Russell. You can do so by going to his web site at: www.williamrussellforcongress.com. I write regularly about the Russell-Murtha race. Thanks to all supporters of the "Haditha Marines."
steve maloney
Predictions
Muslim extremists will continue to kill innocent people. Look at Pakistan. Only nut job whackos respond to the murder of someone by murdering someone else that had nothing whatever to do with the first event.
As the death toll of innocents caused by the Muslim extremists rises around the world, the MSM and government officials will continue to refer to Islam as a religion of peace. Only after a close family member is killed by the insane fundamentalists do Pols say something along the line of, “we may want to rethink this religion of peace stuff.”
Israel and the Palestinians will reach an agreement to take some baby step toward peace. You know, like they will agree to hold talks about holding talks to talk about the possibility of holding talks to talk about talking about peace. In response, Hamas will kill 100 Jews in a restaurant or on a bus somewhere. The UN and European powers will condemn the Jews for riding buses and eating out while the Palestinians live in squalor.
Every single weather pattern will be blamed on global warming.
Due to the success of nanny state Libs in getting legal products – like cigarettes - banned from the public, look for the assault to continue. Likely targets include, Coke machines, any vending machine dispensing anything other than organically produced carrot and celery sticks, fast food restaurants, slow food restaurants, cell phones, leather shoes, beer, wine, snack foods (defined by Libs as anything that takes less than 3 hours to prepare and/or includes more than two non-organic ingredients), cars not achieving 130 miles per gallon of ethanol, guns of any description including toy guns and sticks that may picked up and used to simulate a gun, helmets will be required whenever a child under the age of 37 leaves his house etc. etc.
Nanny state Lib candidates will continue to promise everything from free diapers to free mortuary services and everything in between to people. These services will be billed by Libs as rights and will be paid for by “the rich.”
As a result, Libs will redefine “the rich” as anyone holding a job.
Because of third and fourth party candidacies by Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul, a Lib Dem will be elected president with just over 40% of the popular vote.
Because of a fractured government, the Dem will not be able to make good on single campaign promise and will be able get less done than the current congress, which will be a good thing for America.
As the death toll of innocents caused by the Muslim extremists rises around the world, the MSM and government officials will continue to refer to Islam as a religion of peace. Only after a close family member is killed by the insane fundamentalists do Pols say something along the line of, “we may want to rethink this religion of peace stuff.”
Israel and the Palestinians will reach an agreement to take some baby step toward peace. You know, like they will agree to hold talks about holding talks to talk about the possibility of holding talks to talk about talking about peace. In response, Hamas will kill 100 Jews in a restaurant or on a bus somewhere. The UN and European powers will condemn the Jews for riding buses and eating out while the Palestinians live in squalor.
Every single weather pattern will be blamed on global warming.
Due to the success of nanny state Libs in getting legal products – like cigarettes - banned from the public, look for the assault to continue. Likely targets include, Coke machines, any vending machine dispensing anything other than organically produced carrot and celery sticks, fast food restaurants, slow food restaurants, cell phones, leather shoes, beer, wine, snack foods (defined by Libs as anything that takes less than 3 hours to prepare and/or includes more than two non-organic ingredients), cars not achieving 130 miles per gallon of ethanol, guns of any description including toy guns and sticks that may picked up and used to simulate a gun, helmets will be required whenever a child under the age of 37 leaves his house etc. etc.
Nanny state Lib candidates will continue to promise everything from free diapers to free mortuary services and everything in between to people. These services will be billed by Libs as rights and will be paid for by “the rich.”
As a result, Libs will redefine “the rich” as anyone holding a job.
Because of third and fourth party candidacies by Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul, a Lib Dem will be elected president with just over 40% of the popular vote.
Because of a fractured government, the Dem will not be able to make good on single campaign promise and will be able get less done than the current congress, which will be a good thing for America.
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