Just a few odds and ends tonight...
At work, we're well on our way (hopefully) to making a donation to the relief effort. My co-worker George gets the fastest finger award, he had an e-mail regarding this to us before 8:00 this morning. So I made a donation, and apparently Keith (the owner) is going to match what we put in. It's the least we can do.
Katrina's Wrath is a blog you should check out. The writer is Mike Bayham, whose columns are regularly on the www.gopusa.com page. He's from the New Orleans area, but fortunately he got out in time. Possibly less fortunate are in-laws of a friend of mine, who live in Biloxi. My friend's not heard from them since this came down.
Sadly, I think I'm going to be right on the thousands figure of killed that I came up with. Also sounds like the Big Easy has become the Big Mean Streets, as looting is rampant. Check out the video.
But people are already pitching in, there's a figure cited of over $45 million in private aid so far, and I'm still convinced we'll have $1 billion in this before it's all over. Not sure if this counts "in-kind" aid.
Well, I went back and actually signed up for the Fired Up! Maryland blog. Basically just want to tweak them a bit and ask the tough questions. They're in cackle mode because they think Gov. Ehrlich's going to be busted on his firing practices. But my simple question, and I really want to know this: what law did he break? Methinks this is a "seriousness of the charge" investigation. Maybe I'll drop an e-mail to Sen. Stoltzfus, who's on this investigating committee (one of 4 R's vs. 8 D's) and see if I get an answer. I doubt I'll get anything of use from the FU! Maryland folks. (Hey I like that acronym, it's perfect!)
Wonder how the bloggers relief effort will go tomorrow. I'm interested both in how they do moneywise and how much coverage the partisan media gives them.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Katrina relief efforts
Unless you've been under a rock for the last couple days, you know that Hurricane Katrina simply laid waste to the Gulf Coast in an area from New Orleans on the west to Mobile, Alabama on the east. If not, this should tell the tale. I think when it's all told in weeks (not days) we're going to find out about hundreds, if not thousands, dead. (And how much do you want to bet that if the number is remotely close, someone will compare it to the number of dead in the War on Terror?)
I actually sent a resume to a company in Mobile when I was looking for a job, so I was interested in the storm. On top of that, one of the nicest couples I've met here was a traveling nurse and her househusband, natives of New Orleans. Hopefully her assignment kept her away from their home on this occasion.
Very sad, and the impact isn't through yet as heavy rains spread over the Ohio Valley up into the Great Lakes region...even tornadoes this evening across the bay in eastern Virginia. Delmarva is given a slight risk of that activity tomorrow as the remnants of Katrina pass to our north.
People are already stepping up, including favorite leftist whipping boy Wal-Mart, who's already announced a million dollar donation to the Salvation Army. They're also collecting at their stores for additional funds.
It's been suggested that Thursday be a blogger's relief day (thank Hugh Hewitt for the idea.) I think it's a good idea, and I'm sure the idea will spread. I'm getting out in front a little bit since I'm not always the best poster.
Two organizations I know will be down there helping out:
American Red Cross: www.redcross.org or 1-800-HELP-NOW
Salvation Army: www.salvationarmyusa.org or 1-800-SAL-ARMY
Plus like I said, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will be accepting donations, as I'm sure other entities will be too. Basically they'll put out the tsunami relief jugs with "Katrina" relief instead. It was noted that right now the best things to donate are money and time (if you can get there to help out through these organizations,) at the moment household goods and clothes are secondary in need.
Remember, the dollar you give to an efficient private charity is one less dollar an inefficient government needs to spend. And somehow I know America will dig deep in its pockets and come up with billions.
I actually sent a resume to a company in Mobile when I was looking for a job, so I was interested in the storm. On top of that, one of the nicest couples I've met here was a traveling nurse and her househusband, natives of New Orleans. Hopefully her assignment kept her away from their home on this occasion.
Very sad, and the impact isn't through yet as heavy rains spread over the Ohio Valley up into the Great Lakes region...even tornadoes this evening across the bay in eastern Virginia. Delmarva is given a slight risk of that activity tomorrow as the remnants of Katrina pass to our north.
People are already stepping up, including favorite leftist whipping boy Wal-Mart, who's already announced a million dollar donation to the Salvation Army. They're also collecting at their stores for additional funds.
It's been suggested that Thursday be a blogger's relief day (thank Hugh Hewitt for the idea.) I think it's a good idea, and I'm sure the idea will spread. I'm getting out in front a little bit since I'm not always the best poster.
Two organizations I know will be down there helping out:
American Red Cross: www.redcross.org or 1-800-HELP-NOW
Salvation Army: www.salvationarmyusa.org or 1-800-SAL-ARMY
Plus like I said, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will be accepting donations, as I'm sure other entities will be too. Basically they'll put out the tsunami relief jugs with "Katrina" relief instead. It was noted that right now the best things to donate are money and time (if you can get there to help out through these organizations,) at the moment household goods and clothes are secondary in need.
Remember, the dollar you give to an efficient private charity is one less dollar an inefficient government needs to spend. And somehow I know America will dig deep in its pockets and come up with billions.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Bet you thought I forgot!
Sorry about the long break between posts. Going to ballgames the last four nights (as Delmarva closed out its home regular season schedule) will play havoc with regular posting.
Was reading another blog tonight called Fired Up! Maryland. Seems to me all they are fired up about is how bad Governor Ehrlich supposedly is. Their latest rant is about how Ehrlich is supposedly putting politics into the electoral process. Seems the way it was always run when the Democrats were in the governor's chair suddenly isn't fair when the GOP has a crack at it.
Now, I'm no expert on this because, hey, I'm just a dumb Buckeye who moved to the so-called Free State, but the way I read it is that Ehrlich appointed a Democrat who supported his election to one of the Democrat seats. (Then the law was changed by the General Assembly so they could make the pick.) Well, given that Maryland is probably a 55-45 Democrat state and also given Ehrlich won the governor's race by getting a majority vote, it stands to reason that SOME Democrats liked him enough to vote for him. Hell, I've crossed party lines a few times in my life, why not 10-15% of the Maryland electorate?
Another rant is about Ehrlich spending his time on WBAL rather than with other media. Let me see, anything he says will get a negative spin from the Baltimore Sun...so go someplace where he can get his words out in an unvarnished way? Makes sense to me.
But, the lefties can write their blogs too I suppose. I just know mine's right.
Then I followed some of their links and came across this beauty. I really liked this line:
The Republicans will most likely not gain a majority in the General Assembly, but that is not their goal. If Ehrlich is reelected, the Republicans only need to gain enough seats in the Senate and the House to keep the Democrats from overriding Ehrlich's vetoes. If this is the case, we can kiss goodbye to all improvement in our state.
Let's see, improvement being legislatively targeting Wal-Mart, a successful business and major employer, for not spending a certain arbitrary percentage of revenue on health care? That would improve the business at the unemployment office when they cut jobs out, including hundreds in Somerset County.
Improvement like special rights for gays/lesbians? It's very simple - I don't care what you do in the bedroom, love whoever you want. But don't expect me to roll out the red carpet (or should it be lavender?) and pretend you're married. One man, one woman. It's worked for thousands of years.
Voting reform? First you whine because we don't have touch-screen voting. Then you whine because there's no "paper trail." Ever hear of counterfeiters? Who's to say that in some close statewide election, a "paper trail" is found in Baltimore City and it magically puts the Democrat over the top in a close race? Seems to me that happened in Seattle. Gee, a majority Democrat area and they "find" a "missing" box of votes.
Tell you what - I may grant a "paper trail" if you grant showing photo ID at the polling place with the ability to cross-check. Absentee ballots can be handled in a similar manner to registration, with photo ID. Paper trail has a unique identifier number that matches up with the number on the presented ID. Any duplicates or numbers linked to those ineligible to vote (felons) can be thrown out.
Right now it's the Democrats who are working on destroying a state, a nation-state called Iraq, by encouraging the terrorists (with some help from RINOs sucking up to the press. Yes, you, Senator Hagel.) I think Maryland can be prosperous for years to come by putting good conservative Republicans (and Zell Miller Democrats) in the General Assembly and the governor's chair.
I'm sort of an impartial observer in a way; not being from here, I'm not clued in on history. But it's obvious that after 30 years of Democrats in the governor's chair, they did something to piss off the voters. Seems to me the GOP is making positive steps to attract business and maintain a solid revenue stream, anti-business Democrats notwithstanding. The Eastern Shore is doing quite well.
All it would take is about a 10% shift in voting from the "blue" counties in Maryland and this state would be red. Same probably goes for New Castle County in Delaware...small shift to the right and suddenly Delaware's red as well.
If Reagan can win 49 states by being unabashedly conservative, it proves that America can be a conservative country now. It took 20 years for the country to go from a landslide victory for LBJ (and you wonder how many votes were for the Kennedy legacy in that race) to a conservative tide sweeping Reagan to re-election. Since that time, the D's have lost both the House and Senate, and their only president won with pluralities of the vote by running as a centrist.
Maybe Maryland is a little behind the curve statewide, but which party has the positive agenda for the state? And which party can only snipe at the sitting governor, get its way by only being negative, and blame all ills on an opposition President who they claim is illegitimate?
What are the Democrats for anyway? I can say without hesitation that they're not for the power of the individual.
Was reading another blog tonight called Fired Up! Maryland. Seems to me all they are fired up about is how bad Governor Ehrlich supposedly is. Their latest rant is about how Ehrlich is supposedly putting politics into the electoral process. Seems the way it was always run when the Democrats were in the governor's chair suddenly isn't fair when the GOP has a crack at it.
Now, I'm no expert on this because, hey, I'm just a dumb Buckeye who moved to the so-called Free State, but the way I read it is that Ehrlich appointed a Democrat who supported his election to one of the Democrat seats. (Then the law was changed by the General Assembly so they could make the pick.) Well, given that Maryland is probably a 55-45 Democrat state and also given Ehrlich won the governor's race by getting a majority vote, it stands to reason that SOME Democrats liked him enough to vote for him. Hell, I've crossed party lines a few times in my life, why not 10-15% of the Maryland electorate?
Another rant is about Ehrlich spending his time on WBAL rather than with other media. Let me see, anything he says will get a negative spin from the Baltimore Sun...so go someplace where he can get his words out in an unvarnished way? Makes sense to me.
But, the lefties can write their blogs too I suppose. I just know mine's right.
Then I followed some of their links and came across this beauty. I really liked this line:
The Republicans will most likely not gain a majority in the General Assembly, but that is not their goal. If Ehrlich is reelected, the Republicans only need to gain enough seats in the Senate and the House to keep the Democrats from overriding Ehrlich's vetoes. If this is the case, we can kiss goodbye to all improvement in our state.
Let's see, improvement being legislatively targeting Wal-Mart, a successful business and major employer, for not spending a certain arbitrary percentage of revenue on health care? That would improve the business at the unemployment office when they cut jobs out, including hundreds in Somerset County.
Improvement like special rights for gays/lesbians? It's very simple - I don't care what you do in the bedroom, love whoever you want. But don't expect me to roll out the red carpet (or should it be lavender?) and pretend you're married. One man, one woman. It's worked for thousands of years.
Voting reform? First you whine because we don't have touch-screen voting. Then you whine because there's no "paper trail." Ever hear of counterfeiters? Who's to say that in some close statewide election, a "paper trail" is found in Baltimore City and it magically puts the Democrat over the top in a close race? Seems to me that happened in Seattle. Gee, a majority Democrat area and they "find" a "missing" box of votes.
Tell you what - I may grant a "paper trail" if you grant showing photo ID at the polling place with the ability to cross-check. Absentee ballots can be handled in a similar manner to registration, with photo ID. Paper trail has a unique identifier number that matches up with the number on the presented ID. Any duplicates or numbers linked to those ineligible to vote (felons) can be thrown out.
Right now it's the Democrats who are working on destroying a state, a nation-state called Iraq, by encouraging the terrorists (with some help from RINOs sucking up to the press. Yes, you, Senator Hagel.) I think Maryland can be prosperous for years to come by putting good conservative Republicans (and Zell Miller Democrats) in the General Assembly and the governor's chair.
I'm sort of an impartial observer in a way; not being from here, I'm not clued in on history. But it's obvious that after 30 years of Democrats in the governor's chair, they did something to piss off the voters. Seems to me the GOP is making positive steps to attract business and maintain a solid revenue stream, anti-business Democrats notwithstanding. The Eastern Shore is doing quite well.
All it would take is about a 10% shift in voting from the "blue" counties in Maryland and this state would be red. Same probably goes for New Castle County in Delaware...small shift to the right and suddenly Delaware's red as well.
If Reagan can win 49 states by being unabashedly conservative, it proves that America can be a conservative country now. It took 20 years for the country to go from a landslide victory for LBJ (and you wonder how many votes were for the Kennedy legacy in that race) to a conservative tide sweeping Reagan to re-election. Since that time, the D's have lost both the House and Senate, and their only president won with pluralities of the vote by running as a centrist.
Maybe Maryland is a little behind the curve statewide, but which party has the positive agenda for the state? And which party can only snipe at the sitting governor, get its way by only being negative, and blame all ills on an opposition President who they claim is illegitimate?
What are the Democrats for anyway? I can say without hesitation that they're not for the power of the individual.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
I'm back from vacation. Now tell the GOP to end its vacation from its principles!
And not a moment too soon...
First off, I had a pretty good time on my vacation, save for a number of idiot drivers out there. For some reason, Kentuckians top the list. Love it when a guy changes his mind literally at the last second on an exit ramp and cuts in front of me. Happened twice - once in Indianapolis and once in Lexington, both Kentucky drivers.
Anyway, I did make it to 4 ballgames in 4 cities (here in Salisbury Monday night; Chillicothe, Ohio Tuesday night; St. Louis on Wednesday night; and Cincinnati on Friday night) in 5 days and got to see my aunt's branch of the family for a couple days, so it was good. Home teams even sent the fans home happy in all three of my travel games. Plus got to meet a couple nice folks from the baseball boards I partake of in Cincinnati. All in all a nice trip, just need a better car next time.
And, a short standings report: while I was gone, the Tigers helped themselves out a bit by winning 3 of 4 over Boston and Toronto, so they're going into today's game at 59-62, still 15 1/2 out in the AL Central, but sneaking back to 8 1/2 out in the wild card.
Meanwhile, Toledo has cut its magic number for the IL playoffs to 7 and the IL West division title magic number to 10. Their 78-49 record gives them a 6 game bulge in the division over Indianapolis. Should they hold on, it will give them a date for a series with Norfolk, who's already won the IL South.
Delmarva has cut its magic number to clinch the second half in the SAL North to 13 over Lexington as they lead with a SAL-best 33-19 record. Their margin over the Legends is now 5 games. If Delmarva does win it, they'll get one home game against Hagerstown (first half winner) then have to travel cross-state to face the Suns in games 2 and 3 for the North Division crown.
Now, on to more weighty stuff. While I was gone, it seems that Ohio's Governor Taft has found a lot more trouble - trouble that could lead him to resign in disgrace, or at the very least, cripple him for the remaining 16 months of his term. And it looks right now that the golden goose that has enabled the GOP to win an unprecedented 4 consecutive terms in the governor's chair has laid its last egg. That egg may end up on the face of Ken Blackwell, which is unfortunate because I think he'd be an excellent governor for Ohio (and I thought so in 1998 as well, but the GOP brass didn't want a contested primary so they convinced Blackwell to run downticket.)
Taft pled guilty to 4 counts of ethics violations stemming from unreported golf outings and gifts. I think he should plead guilty to screwing up what was once a great state with reasonable taxation and a good business climate. By playing moderate, he's combined the worst facets of the Democrats (tax and spend) with the public perception that all politicians are crooks and slapped the Ohio GOP with both monikers. While they're not blameless, the state GOP is still going to pay bigtime for all these transgressions.
In 2006, I think the next governor of Ohio will be a black man. But it won't be the right black man for the job. I don't see Michael Coleman doing anything but trying to grow the government and kowtowing further to Ohio's union thugs. The scary thing is that there's a chance at least one of Ohio's legislative bodies goes Democrat, more likely the House. It only takes a flip of 11 seats to erase the Ohio GOP's 60-39 edge in the House, with all 99 seats up for grabs and some House members term-limited out. It's a lot less likely in the Ohio Senate, where the GOP has a 22-11 edge, but 8 of the 11 Democrats have to defend seats in 2006...so the D's would have to go 13-4 in 2006 to get control (keep their 8 seats and flip 5 of 9 Republican ones.)
This leads me to a gripe I've been having for awhile. It was echoed in this commentary by Jeff Crouere. Simply put, I'm getting tired of the party that stood for less government as recently as the Contract with America now simply going along to get along.
Whatever happened to eliminating the Department of Education? Now we've federalized education with "No Child Left Behind." While federal standards may be a good thing, whatever happened to state's rights? For contributing less than 10% of the education money in America, the feds sure have a lot of say! As far as I'm concerned, the more kids that are homeschooled, the better - it's where tomorrow's leaders are going to come from. The public schools are simply becoming madrasas in manner - teaching the secular religion of politically correct left-leaning bilge that's given the government stamp of approval as long as they meet some artificial standard of rote memorization. Kids need to learn how to think for themselves, but instead they're force-fed the latest NEA/AFT propaganda (like these AFT "hot topics".)
If we had the cajones we'd started with in 1995, federal support for the arts and public broadcasting would be eliminated, helping to let the market decide what's good art and good television. If the state of Maryland wants to sponsor public TV and "art" like "Piss Christ" then that's their proper perogative (although I'd still object to state funding as well.)
Reagan was blamed for massive deficits that happened during the 1980's even though federal revenues actually came close to doubling during his tenure. But Tip O'Neill would annually declare his budget "D.O.A." and throw on as much pork as he could. Reagan would get his military spending, but the guns came with a lot of butter and a ton of deficit. The opposite happened in the 1990's when Clinton's big-spending ways were tempered by the Gingrich Republican Congress, a body that made a big deal of deficit spending and worked to slow its growth. Meanwhile, unfettered growth in certain segments of the economy managed to increase federal revenues despite all the steps the Clintonistas took to screw it up by raising taxes. Once that bubble burst at the decade's turn, the deficits came again and the economic dip enhanced by 9/11 didn't help.
But now we have GOP control of both Houses and the Oval Office. Yet we can't turn a surplus, in fact, our last four budgets have been the nation's four largest. I'll grant Homeland Security has been a budget-buster, but no one has the guts to cut spending in nonessential areas (like public broadcasting and the arts!) And, if we dropped a copy of the highway bill on a Islamic jihadist, not only would it kill him, but he wouldn't see his 72 virgins because he was unclean - all the pork in the bill would ensure that!
Sometime this war on terror will end, stupid comments like this one by Senator Hagel notwithstanding. At that point, it's my hope that we've taken care of some of these monetary issues. There is a place for federal spending, but a lot of it we have now is so unnecessary, and no one seems to take a stand and scream, "Enough!" Or if they do, they're savaged by the partisan media as a "bomb-thrower", and, "women and minorities will be hardest hit."
I know I'd never win a political office because I'd have the meat-cleaver ready to cut spending. My opponent would simply tell the people the pork would keep coming under him and they could continue to suck at the government nipple. For now, the job is just to stem the tide as best we can and try to work on the next generation. The liberals know this too, which is why they spend so much time and resources trying to brainwash the next generation through the public schools and through the mass media.
Bush needs to be a leader in this fight to cut government, but unfortunately he's not always in the right camp. While he does create somewhat of a legacy for the GOP candidate in 2008 to follow, it's sometimes surprising that he's got as high of a job rating as he does with the beating he takes from the partisan media.
Lots of work needs to be done between now and...well, perpetually. As Benjamin Franklin noted, we have a republic, if we can keep it. The trick is keeping this a republic and not a democracy, which in history has always turned to tyranny.
First off, I had a pretty good time on my vacation, save for a number of idiot drivers out there. For some reason, Kentuckians top the list. Love it when a guy changes his mind literally at the last second on an exit ramp and cuts in front of me. Happened twice - once in Indianapolis and once in Lexington, both Kentucky drivers.
Anyway, I did make it to 4 ballgames in 4 cities (here in Salisbury Monday night; Chillicothe, Ohio Tuesday night; St. Louis on Wednesday night; and Cincinnati on Friday night) in 5 days and got to see my aunt's branch of the family for a couple days, so it was good. Home teams even sent the fans home happy in all three of my travel games. Plus got to meet a couple nice folks from the baseball boards I partake of in Cincinnati. All in all a nice trip, just need a better car next time.
And, a short standings report: while I was gone, the Tigers helped themselves out a bit by winning 3 of 4 over Boston and Toronto, so they're going into today's game at 59-62, still 15 1/2 out in the AL Central, but sneaking back to 8 1/2 out in the wild card.
Meanwhile, Toledo has cut its magic number for the IL playoffs to 7 and the IL West division title magic number to 10. Their 78-49 record gives them a 6 game bulge in the division over Indianapolis. Should they hold on, it will give them a date for a series with Norfolk, who's already won the IL South.
Delmarva has cut its magic number to clinch the second half in the SAL North to 13 over Lexington as they lead with a SAL-best 33-19 record. Their margin over the Legends is now 5 games. If Delmarva does win it, they'll get one home game against Hagerstown (first half winner) then have to travel cross-state to face the Suns in games 2 and 3 for the North Division crown.
Now, on to more weighty stuff. While I was gone, it seems that Ohio's Governor Taft has found a lot more trouble - trouble that could lead him to resign in disgrace, or at the very least, cripple him for the remaining 16 months of his term. And it looks right now that the golden goose that has enabled the GOP to win an unprecedented 4 consecutive terms in the governor's chair has laid its last egg. That egg may end up on the face of Ken Blackwell, which is unfortunate because I think he'd be an excellent governor for Ohio (and I thought so in 1998 as well, but the GOP brass didn't want a contested primary so they convinced Blackwell to run downticket.)
Taft pled guilty to 4 counts of ethics violations stemming from unreported golf outings and gifts. I think he should plead guilty to screwing up what was once a great state with reasonable taxation and a good business climate. By playing moderate, he's combined the worst facets of the Democrats (tax and spend) with the public perception that all politicians are crooks and slapped the Ohio GOP with both monikers. While they're not blameless, the state GOP is still going to pay bigtime for all these transgressions.
In 2006, I think the next governor of Ohio will be a black man. But it won't be the right black man for the job. I don't see Michael Coleman doing anything but trying to grow the government and kowtowing further to Ohio's union thugs. The scary thing is that there's a chance at least one of Ohio's legislative bodies goes Democrat, more likely the House. It only takes a flip of 11 seats to erase the Ohio GOP's 60-39 edge in the House, with all 99 seats up for grabs and some House members term-limited out. It's a lot less likely in the Ohio Senate, where the GOP has a 22-11 edge, but 8 of the 11 Democrats have to defend seats in 2006...so the D's would have to go 13-4 in 2006 to get control (keep their 8 seats and flip 5 of 9 Republican ones.)
This leads me to a gripe I've been having for awhile. It was echoed in this commentary by Jeff Crouere. Simply put, I'm getting tired of the party that stood for less government as recently as the Contract with America now simply going along to get along.
Whatever happened to eliminating the Department of Education? Now we've federalized education with "No Child Left Behind." While federal standards may be a good thing, whatever happened to state's rights? For contributing less than 10% of the education money in America, the feds sure have a lot of say! As far as I'm concerned, the more kids that are homeschooled, the better - it's where tomorrow's leaders are going to come from. The public schools are simply becoming madrasas in manner - teaching the secular religion of politically correct left-leaning bilge that's given the government stamp of approval as long as they meet some artificial standard of rote memorization. Kids need to learn how to think for themselves, but instead they're force-fed the latest NEA/AFT propaganda (like these AFT "hot topics".)
If we had the cajones we'd started with in 1995, federal support for the arts and public broadcasting would be eliminated, helping to let the market decide what's good art and good television. If the state of Maryland wants to sponsor public TV and "art" like "Piss Christ" then that's their proper perogative (although I'd still object to state funding as well.)
Reagan was blamed for massive deficits that happened during the 1980's even though federal revenues actually came close to doubling during his tenure. But Tip O'Neill would annually declare his budget "D.O.A." and throw on as much pork as he could. Reagan would get his military spending, but the guns came with a lot of butter and a ton of deficit. The opposite happened in the 1990's when Clinton's big-spending ways were tempered by the Gingrich Republican Congress, a body that made a big deal of deficit spending and worked to slow its growth. Meanwhile, unfettered growth in certain segments of the economy managed to increase federal revenues despite all the steps the Clintonistas took to screw it up by raising taxes. Once that bubble burst at the decade's turn, the deficits came again and the economic dip enhanced by 9/11 didn't help.
But now we have GOP control of both Houses and the Oval Office. Yet we can't turn a surplus, in fact, our last four budgets have been the nation's four largest. I'll grant Homeland Security has been a budget-buster, but no one has the guts to cut spending in nonessential areas (like public broadcasting and the arts!) And, if we dropped a copy of the highway bill on a Islamic jihadist, not only would it kill him, but he wouldn't see his 72 virgins because he was unclean - all the pork in the bill would ensure that!
Sometime this war on terror will end, stupid comments like this one by Senator Hagel notwithstanding. At that point, it's my hope that we've taken care of some of these monetary issues. There is a place for federal spending, but a lot of it we have now is so unnecessary, and no one seems to take a stand and scream, "Enough!" Or if they do, they're savaged by the partisan media as a "bomb-thrower", and, "women and minorities will be hardest hit."
I know I'd never win a political office because I'd have the meat-cleaver ready to cut spending. My opponent would simply tell the people the pork would keep coming under him and they could continue to suck at the government nipple. For now, the job is just to stem the tide as best we can and try to work on the next generation. The liberals know this too, which is why they spend so much time and resources trying to brainwash the next generation through the public schools and through the mass media.
Bush needs to be a leader in this fight to cut government, but unfortunately he's not always in the right camp. While he does create somewhat of a legacy for the GOP candidate in 2008 to follow, it's sometimes surprising that he's got as high of a job rating as he does with the beating he takes from the partisan media.
Lots of work needs to be done between now and...well, perpetually. As Benjamin Franklin noted, we have a republic, if we can keep it. The trick is keeping this a republic and not a democracy, which in history has always turned to tyranny.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Westward ho!
One last post for the week until I get back here from the great Midwest.
Had a great night tonight at the ballgame (except for us losing.) Two things stick out as you'll see by the pix. The top picture is the ball I purchased to help out the Ripken Foundation. For $10 I had a chance to get a ball autographed by a member of the Shorebirds, by Billy Ripken (who was at the game signing), or Cal Ripken, Jr. There were 360 balls and I know Junior only signed a few. Just happened to pick right, then had Billy sign the ball as well.
What I didn't get signed was anything by Governor Ehrlich, who had some words for the crowd (bottom picture) then threw out the first pitch (along with Billy Ripken.) A very popular guy, he had a good ovation when he was introduced. Probably could have gotten an autograph from him if I wanted it since he walked up my aisle to get to his seat but chose not to. I wasn't really there to talk politics, I was there to enjoy the game!
I save the politics for this space, which means for the next few days that the only people who will be privy to my political leanings will be my relatives, who should be interesting since they lean the same as me, maybe even more libertarian.
But when I get back, I'll catch up on reading and be ready for the routine again.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Coming to Dawn's defense
My research is causing trouble with left-wingers. Oh well.
But the Bloggers News Network (of which WriteWingNut is a part) seems to have a lot of readers of that persuasion - and they didn't like her allegations. So I had to defend her honor, even though we've not met:
I guess I stirred up a bit of trouble here. I'm the guy who did the research into Google ads in the first place, and Dawn was kind enough to help me with my theory.
I don't doubt Dawn's sincerity in believing it was a sign from above that Google contacted her and terminated her service.
Furthermore, it seems to me that many of the ads sponsored by Google may be of questionable taste to the blogger who spends time and effort in sharing a piece of their world with others. I know Google has a filter to shut out ads the blogger would not want but at times the header could be misleading or questionable - therefore it may have to be clicked to find out what it's all about.
In the interest of full disclosure, my blog only has one (non-paying) ad on it so all I know about Google ads is what I've gleaned from research. But this research did find that over 98% of the money donated by Google employees went to liberal and/or Democrat causes and candidates.
This, in turn, is fairly close to the proportion that the Beltway media voted for John Kerry vs. George W. Bush. And we see what kind of bias and worldview they have in coverage and story selection.
We all have our preferences and prejudices, press included. There's no way one can convince me that having a particular worldview doesn't cloud one's actions. Thus, a Bush hater in the press would have some incentive to paint things done by the Bush administration in a bad light, much like the few conservatives in the media did to a number of Bill Clinton's failings.
Carrying that further, would the employees of Google not have some sort of bias against a conservative blogger because they don't agree with them? Is it possible an offense like Dawn's would have slid just a wee bit more if she were a pro-choice blogger? Yes, there may be a computer that noted the self-clicking, but somebody in Google's sales department has to have the final say in such matters. Computers are useful tools but the end decision in the matter is certainly human.
I don't doubt that Google attempts to run their company in an ethical matter, but this is kind of a gray area where gut instinct and feelings do play a part. And if Google's employees choose to be diligent contributors to left-wing causes, we on the right can in turn decide to take our business elsewhere. That's what my original post encouraged as a reaction.
Now another subject. I was actually going to save this for next week when I came back since it's not particularly time-sensitive, but since I already have the post going, why not?
There's an article in the Daily Times today regarding business opportunities filled, it's great. Actually, it was something I could find useful in the future.
About a year or so ago, US Air (who is the sole carrier out of Salisbury's airport) decided to stop flying over to BWI Airport, deciding instead to fly daily flights to Philadelphia and Charlotte. Great if you have deep pockets and don't mind the stop and plane change.
But many people here opt to fly out of BWI on Southwest or other carriers to take advantage of the low fares. To fill this market, two separate shuttle services were born - one ground-based and one airline (flying out of Ocean City, great for the weekenders!)
Surprisingly, it's been found that some folks just like to simply save the hassle of driving up to Baltimore, opting instead to use the express shuttle service. It's a great idea - competition and entrepreneurship at its best. I applaud it! Hopefully it remains in business when I decide to head out west to the Left Coast someday, it certainly makes the idea of flying out of BWI more doable. I can already see it possibly saving me a two-day drive back and forth to Florida come the holidays (assuming my parents are settled in there.) So a definite thanks to them for sticking their neck out and I'm betting they succeed.
But the Bloggers News Network (of which WriteWingNut is a part) seems to have a lot of readers of that persuasion - and they didn't like her allegations. So I had to defend her honor, even though we've not met:
I guess I stirred up a bit of trouble here. I'm the guy who did the research into Google ads in the first place, and Dawn was kind enough to help me with my theory.
I don't doubt Dawn's sincerity in believing it was a sign from above that Google contacted her and terminated her service.
Furthermore, it seems to me that many of the ads sponsored by Google may be of questionable taste to the blogger who spends time and effort in sharing a piece of their world with others. I know Google has a filter to shut out ads the blogger would not want but at times the header could be misleading or questionable - therefore it may have to be clicked to find out what it's all about.
In the interest of full disclosure, my blog only has one (non-paying) ad on it so all I know about Google ads is what I've gleaned from research. But this research did find that over 98% of the money donated by Google employees went to liberal and/or Democrat causes and candidates.
This, in turn, is fairly close to the proportion that the Beltway media voted for John Kerry vs. George W. Bush. And we see what kind of bias and worldview they have in coverage and story selection.
We all have our preferences and prejudices, press included. There's no way one can convince me that having a particular worldview doesn't cloud one's actions. Thus, a Bush hater in the press would have some incentive to paint things done by the Bush administration in a bad light, much like the few conservatives in the media did to a number of Bill Clinton's failings.
Carrying that further, would the employees of Google not have some sort of bias against a conservative blogger because they don't agree with them? Is it possible an offense like Dawn's would have slid just a wee bit more if she were a pro-choice blogger? Yes, there may be a computer that noted the self-clicking, but somebody in Google's sales department has to have the final say in such matters. Computers are useful tools but the end decision in the matter is certainly human.
I don't doubt that Google attempts to run their company in an ethical matter, but this is kind of a gray area where gut instinct and feelings do play a part. And if Google's employees choose to be diligent contributors to left-wing causes, we on the right can in turn decide to take our business elsewhere. That's what my original post encouraged as a reaction.
Now another subject. I was actually going to save this for next week when I came back since it's not particularly time-sensitive, but since I already have the post going, why not?
There's an article in the Daily Times today regarding business opportunities filled, it's great. Actually, it was something I could find useful in the future.
About a year or so ago, US Air (who is the sole carrier out of Salisbury's airport) decided to stop flying over to BWI Airport, deciding instead to fly daily flights to Philadelphia and Charlotte. Great if you have deep pockets and don't mind the stop and plane change.
But many people here opt to fly out of BWI on Southwest or other carriers to take advantage of the low fares. To fill this market, two separate shuttle services were born - one ground-based and one airline (flying out of Ocean City, great for the weekenders!)
Surprisingly, it's been found that some folks just like to simply save the hassle of driving up to Baltimore, opting instead to use the express shuttle service. It's a great idea - competition and entrepreneurship at its best. I applaud it! Hopefully it remains in business when I decide to head out west to the Left Coast someday, it certainly makes the idea of flying out of BWI more doable. I can already see it possibly saving me a two-day drive back and forth to Florida come the holidays (assuming my parents are settled in there.) So a definite thanks to them for sticking their neck out and I'm betting they succeed.
A quick hat tip
Just wanted to put out a shout to Dawn at WriteWingBlog...she cited my research into Google that I did back in July. (Look in the archives for the post of mine in question, the post is called "For a few dollars more...") She was kind enough to help me in my research.
And an entertainment tip for those of you on the Eastern Shore...went to Delaware International Speedway tonight and enjoyed the racing. It's a good way to spend a Saturday night - if you don't mind loud (!) cars. Just bring a cushion for the bleachers. Makes me smile to think how the environmentalist wackos would absolutely hate the needless fuel consumption and the thousands of gallons of water "wasted" on the track (since it's a 1/2 mile clay oval, the watering keeps the dust down.) One of those things I'd always wanted to do, and it's done.
Last week was a good week for me in the Patriot, got a quote from the SEIU head in there and they also used my short article on Karl Rove's fundraiser here in Maryland. Maybe more this coming week; however, I may not find out until next weekend, because...
...after Monday night, I'm going on vacation for the rest of the week. Going out to Missouri to see family I haven't seen in about 3 years and haven't been to their homes since 1994. So I'm looking forward to the trip and catching the Cards at the soon-to-be-replaced Busch Stadium.
Thus, most likely a post Monday night and a week or so off. Then I'm making some exciting changes, I spoke to someone last week about doing this and it sounds doable. But it'll wait until after I come back.
And an entertainment tip for those of you on the Eastern Shore...went to Delaware International Speedway tonight and enjoyed the racing. It's a good way to spend a Saturday night - if you don't mind loud (!) cars. Just bring a cushion for the bleachers. Makes me smile to think how the environmentalist wackos would absolutely hate the needless fuel consumption and the thousands of gallons of water "wasted" on the track (since it's a 1/2 mile clay oval, the watering keeps the dust down.) One of those things I'd always wanted to do, and it's done.
Last week was a good week for me in the Patriot, got a quote from the SEIU head in there and they also used my short article on Karl Rove's fundraiser here in Maryland. Maybe more this coming week; however, I may not find out until next weekend, because...
...after Monday night, I'm going on vacation for the rest of the week. Going out to Missouri to see family I haven't seen in about 3 years and haven't been to their homes since 1994. So I'm looking forward to the trip and catching the Cards at the soon-to-be-replaced Busch Stadium.
Thus, most likely a post Monday night and a week or so off. Then I'm making some exciting changes, I spoke to someone last week about doing this and it sounds doable. But it'll wait until after I come back.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Err America/Go home Cindy!
Much like trying to decide whether I want pumpkin pie or apple pie, I'll just take a slice of both!
Lots of pixels lately about the Air America scandal (mostly from blogs like Radio Equalizer and Michelle Malkin's blog.) On the other hand, Cindy Sheehan's Crawford vigil has gotten a huge amount of ink and airtime from the partisan media. To carry the food analogy a little farther, the Air America troubles appear to the partisan media like that heartburn-inducing half-eaten container of chili that's sat in the fridge for two months and has now gotten fur, while Cindy Sheehan's protest is like freshly cooked filet mignon.
Wonder if the wheels of justice are going to turn on Al Franken's so-called employer. (Thought he was working for free.) I look at it this way - much like trying to steal elections, the libs are trying to steal listeners and revenue. As always, liberalism loses in a free exchange of ideas and in this case, they're losing in people who are willing to listen. (Of course, I can't even do that if I really wanted to, there's no AA affiliates nearby. Compare that list to, say, Rush Limbaugh's.)
Sleazy seems to be the word for Air America. And sleaze is what you get with the fawning coverage of Cindy Sheehan. Ok, the woman lost her son in the War on Terror. I'll grant that.
But let's look at a few hard facts here. Number one, Casey Sheehan volunteered for military duty and knew the risks.
Number two, there's about 1800 other parental units out there that feel the loss of their loved on on the battlefield. Last week, 14 Marines were killed from a unit from Brook Park, Ohio. Their loved ones feel pain, too.
Number three, President Bush has already spoken to her, as well as 900 other relatives of 272 troops who died in the War on Terror. She just didn't get the answers she thought she wanted, and her quest for another turn has been glommed upon by every wacko lefty group out there.
Remember, the partisan media only deigns to highlight those who are bitter and turn into doves once their son or daughter is tragically lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the fall of the Twin Towers (remember that?) Never mind the heroes who rarely see the ink they deserve. A creative spin was put on this by an August 7th New York Times editorial:
"...the military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized (the War on Terror troops') actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and World War II."
Hey, New York Times, maybe if you spend a minute or two less trashing Bush, glamourizing Hillary, and tying crooked lobbyists to Tom DeLay, then you could talk a bit about the schools and infrastructure we're building in Iraq. Instead, they're trying for Viet Nam redux. But just try and spit on a returning soldier in MY presence.
Cindy Sheehan, your time as a "useful idiot" to the kooky left is just about over. When Bush goes back to Washington, the moonbats will find another spokesperson to mouth their anti-America sentiment (they're working on Hollywood now with a bunch of antiwar movies in production.) So, please go home and try to get on with your post-Casey life.
Lots of pixels lately about the Air America scandal (mostly from blogs like Radio Equalizer and Michelle Malkin's blog.) On the other hand, Cindy Sheehan's Crawford vigil has gotten a huge amount of ink and airtime from the partisan media. To carry the food analogy a little farther, the Air America troubles appear to the partisan media like that heartburn-inducing half-eaten container of chili that's sat in the fridge for two months and has now gotten fur, while Cindy Sheehan's protest is like freshly cooked filet mignon.
Wonder if the wheels of justice are going to turn on Al Franken's so-called employer. (Thought he was working for free.) I look at it this way - much like trying to steal elections, the libs are trying to steal listeners and revenue. As always, liberalism loses in a free exchange of ideas and in this case, they're losing in people who are willing to listen. (Of course, I can't even do that if I really wanted to, there's no AA affiliates nearby. Compare that list to, say, Rush Limbaugh's.)
Sleazy seems to be the word for Air America. And sleaze is what you get with the fawning coverage of Cindy Sheehan. Ok, the woman lost her son in the War on Terror. I'll grant that.
But let's look at a few hard facts here. Number one, Casey Sheehan volunteered for military duty and knew the risks.
Number two, there's about 1800 other parental units out there that feel the loss of their loved on on the battlefield. Last week, 14 Marines were killed from a unit from Brook Park, Ohio. Their loved ones feel pain, too.
Number three, President Bush has already spoken to her, as well as 900 other relatives of 272 troops who died in the War on Terror. She just didn't get the answers she thought she wanted, and her quest for another turn has been glommed upon by every wacko lefty group out there.
Remember, the partisan media only deigns to highlight those who are bitter and turn into doves once their son or daughter is tragically lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the fall of the Twin Towers (remember that?) Never mind the heroes who rarely see the ink they deserve. A creative spin was put on this by an August 7th New York Times editorial:
"...the military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized (the War on Terror troops') actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and World War II."
Hey, New York Times, maybe if you spend a minute or two less trashing Bush, glamourizing Hillary, and tying crooked lobbyists to Tom DeLay, then you could talk a bit about the schools and infrastructure we're building in Iraq. Instead, they're trying for Viet Nam redux. But just try and spit on a returning soldier in MY presence.
Cindy Sheehan, your time as a "useful idiot" to the kooky left is just about over. When Bush goes back to Washington, the moonbats will find another spokesperson to mouth their anti-America sentiment (they're working on Hollywood now with a bunch of antiwar movies in production.) So, please go home and try to get on with your post-Casey life.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Here we go again!
And we continue to pick on America's most successful retailer. Today I read a CNSNews article about the NEA and AFT urging back-to-school shoppers not to patronize Wal-Mart. (The NEA's stand is here, and the AFT whines here.)
Interestingly enough, I saw a lot of people in Wal-Mart Sunday. And a good number of them were shopping for school supplies. And I'd love to see somebody "adopt" a local Wal-Mart and protest - they'd get a face full of me.
In local Wal-Mart news, the company is buying a small portion of the 200 acres they were slated to buy for their Somerset County distribution center. In a move to enhance development in the area, the land will be turned over to the Somerset County Sanitary District for building a new water tower and drilling new water wells. Currently, development in the Princess Anne area is on hold due to lack of a good water supply, so these new wells will allow a 90-home development to commence, for starters.
But there's no guarantee that the remainder of the 200 acres will be purchased as the decision has been put off until January - just in time to see if the Maryland General Assembly overrides Governor Ehrlich's veto of the Fair Share bill that targets Wal-Mart for insufficient employee health insurance coverage.
Speaking of private property, I noted in a post right after the Kelo decision that I had put my name on the Castle Coalition mailing list. Well, today in my mailbox there laid a copy of Liberty & Law, the newsletter of their parent organization, the Institute for Justice. Some interesting reading on school choice, freeing hair braiders from state cosmetology licensing, and other privacy rights topics. But I think the majority of it can be found on their website...my suggestion is to have an snail mail opt-out clause like I do for my credit statements. They can send me the magazine as an e-mail much more cheaply than sending me the paper copy that I'll read and most likely toss out. (No offense to them, I'm a recovering pack rat.)
At the end of the post, a standings report of sorts:
As of tonight, my Tigers are 53-60, a season low 7 games under the .500 mark. Their "tragic number" for division elimination is 29 and for playoff elimination is 39.
The Toledo Mud Hens are a bearer of much happier news, they're 71-46. The magic number for them to clinch a playoff spot is 21, and 20 to clinch their 2nd International League West Division title in 4 years.
Delmarva's hanging on to first in the South Atlantic League's North Division at 29-15. They have a magic number of 24 to win their first division half since 2002. They had a 5 1/2 game lead a week ago, now it's down to 3 games as they are on their final southern swing of the season (barring playoffs.) We're trying to set up an all-Maryland battle for the SAL North title as Hagerstown won the first half.
Interestingly enough, I saw a lot of people in Wal-Mart Sunday. And a good number of them were shopping for school supplies. And I'd love to see somebody "adopt" a local Wal-Mart and protest - they'd get a face full of me.
In local Wal-Mart news, the company is buying a small portion of the 200 acres they were slated to buy for their Somerset County distribution center. In a move to enhance development in the area, the land will be turned over to the Somerset County Sanitary District for building a new water tower and drilling new water wells. Currently, development in the Princess Anne area is on hold due to lack of a good water supply, so these new wells will allow a 90-home development to commence, for starters.
But there's no guarantee that the remainder of the 200 acres will be purchased as the decision has been put off until January - just in time to see if the Maryland General Assembly overrides Governor Ehrlich's veto of the Fair Share bill that targets Wal-Mart for insufficient employee health insurance coverage.
Speaking of private property, I noted in a post right after the Kelo decision that I had put my name on the Castle Coalition mailing list. Well, today in my mailbox there laid a copy of Liberty & Law, the newsletter of their parent organization, the Institute for Justice. Some interesting reading on school choice, freeing hair braiders from state cosmetology licensing, and other privacy rights topics. But I think the majority of it can be found on their website...my suggestion is to have an snail mail opt-out clause like I do for my credit statements. They can send me the magazine as an e-mail much more cheaply than sending me the paper copy that I'll read and most likely toss out. (No offense to them, I'm a recovering pack rat.)
At the end of the post, a standings report of sorts:
As of tonight, my Tigers are 53-60, a season low 7 games under the .500 mark. Their "tragic number" for division elimination is 29 and for playoff elimination is 39.
The Toledo Mud Hens are a bearer of much happier news, they're 71-46. The magic number for them to clinch a playoff spot is 21, and 20 to clinch their 2nd International League West Division title in 4 years.
Delmarva's hanging on to first in the South Atlantic League's North Division at 29-15. They have a magic number of 24 to win their first division half since 2002. They had a 5 1/2 game lead a week ago, now it's down to 3 games as they are on their final southern swing of the season (barring playoffs.) We're trying to set up an all-Maryland battle for the SAL North title as Hagerstown won the first half.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Stolen stuff
Had to laugh about the civil rights march in Atlanta Saturday. The moonbats (I like that word, wonder who coined the term?) had some of their best out:
Judge Greg Mathis: "They (meaning Bush, et. al.) all need to be locked up because they are all criminals and they are all thieves." And you face a lot of those on your TV show. I'll give him props for actually having been a judge in Detroit, but I think this lefty culture thing and hanging out with Jesse and "San Fran Nan" Pelosi has really gotten to him.
Harry Belafonte, entertainer, called black conservatives "black tyrants." Obviously, racial preference stops when it's against the liberal orthodoxy.
My favorite, from Rep. Barbara Lee (also known as the only House member voting against fighting back after 9-11:) "The last two elections were stolen. They were stolen and so we will not rest until we reclaim our democracy and this is what today is all about."
And you know what? She's absolutely right!
Yes, the 2004 race for governor in the state of Washington (Rossi vs. Gregoire) was stolen by "found" votes after the fact in heavily Democrat King County.
And the 2000 Missouri Senate vote (Carnahan vs. Ashcroft) was stolen when polls in St. Louis were ordered held open for extra time in that heavily Democrat city. Thus, a dead man won a Senate seat (Carnahan and his son were among those killed in an October plane crash.)
So, those last two elections were stolen. Now I think she's incorrectly referring to Bush vs. Gore (no Florida recount, even those press-sponsored, went for Gore; and the Constitution provides that electors, not voters, elect the President) and Bush vs. Kerry (because of rigged exit polling.)
But we know how those turned out. And no word from her about New Jersey illegally substituting Frank Lautenberg for Bob Torricelli when the scandal-ridden Torricelli was tanking in the polls. Guess that was ok since it was after the primary election.
Anyway, nothing like a civil rights meeting for having a pot call the kettle black. Bet none of those elected officials there have ever gotten under 70% of the vote in the districts they call home, and it's all because of "us vs. them" rhetoric like this rather than a tangible result of doing positive things for their respective districts.
Judge Greg Mathis: "They (meaning Bush, et. al.) all need to be locked up because they are all criminals and they are all thieves." And you face a lot of those on your TV show. I'll give him props for actually having been a judge in Detroit, but I think this lefty culture thing and hanging out with Jesse and "San Fran Nan" Pelosi has really gotten to him.
Harry Belafonte, entertainer, called black conservatives "black tyrants." Obviously, racial preference stops when it's against the liberal orthodoxy.
My favorite, from Rep. Barbara Lee (also known as the only House member voting against fighting back after 9-11:) "The last two elections were stolen. They were stolen and so we will not rest until we reclaim our democracy and this is what today is all about."
And you know what? She's absolutely right!
Yes, the 2004 race for governor in the state of Washington (Rossi vs. Gregoire) was stolen by "found" votes after the fact in heavily Democrat King County.
And the 2000 Missouri Senate vote (Carnahan vs. Ashcroft) was stolen when polls in St. Louis were ordered held open for extra time in that heavily Democrat city. Thus, a dead man won a Senate seat (Carnahan and his son were among those killed in an October plane crash.)
So, those last two elections were stolen. Now I think she's incorrectly referring to Bush vs. Gore (no Florida recount, even those press-sponsored, went for Gore; and the Constitution provides that electors, not voters, elect the President) and Bush vs. Kerry (because of rigged exit polling.)
But we know how those turned out. And no word from her about New Jersey illegally substituting Frank Lautenberg for Bob Torricelli when the scandal-ridden Torricelli was tanking in the polls. Guess that was ok since it was after the primary election.
Anyway, nothing like a civil rights meeting for having a pot call the kettle black. Bet none of those elected officials there have ever gotten under 70% of the vote in the districts they call home, and it's all because of "us vs. them" rhetoric like this rather than a tangible result of doing positive things for their respective districts.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
More random thoughts on my part
Thomas Sowell occasionally starts a column with the phrase, "Random thoughts on the passing scene." One I particularly liked the other day: "As a result of "evolving standards" and "nuanced" judicial decisions, we no longer have clear-cut rights. We have a ticket to a crapshoot in a courtroom. That ticket is worth a lot more to those with slick lawyers than to ordinary citizens."
Some of mine for tonight, since I caught up on my gopusa.com news roundups:
Here's a shocker headline - Report: More Democrat than Republican Operatives Involved in Voter Fraud. This story details electoral fraud in a number of states and cited the five worst cities: Philadelphia, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Seattle, and Cleveland.
Just from my memory, Philadelphia had some irregularities in its last mayoral election based on an FBI investigation of the incumbent mayor John Street (some claimed it was a smear by the Bush administration,) Milwaukee was the home of the Democrat operatives that slashed the tires on GOP-hired vans Election Day eve, St. Louis (polls held open for extra time in 2000, perhaps costing John Ashcroft a Senate seat and placing in his place a dead guy,) Seattle was the epicenter of the Rossi v. Gregoire "found votes" snafu, and Cleveland is in Ohio. Enough said.
Notice all of these counties are "blue"? If they can't steal it at the ballot box, they get judges who will let them I guess.
Speaking of blue voting, there was a statement by Robert Novak where he claimed the GOP is in trouble, shown by the close vote in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. Novak's clain was that the struggles we're having in the War on Terror will come back to hurt the GOP in 2006. My beef with that opinion is twofold. Number one, Novak is known to be against our Iraqi involvement, whereas I'm a supporter of the mission; and secondly, the Ohio GOP is in a world of hurt right now because of the Coingate scandal and the horrid approval numbers of the three main Republicans: Gov. Bob Taft and Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich.
The problem in Ohio, then, has nothing to do with the War on Terror, but more to do with the moderate state government. They have no problem with giving us back money when there's a surplus (a good idea) but the problem is that they don't know how not to spend money. So, when the economy got tough, they had to raise taxes to cover the spending they thought was affordable a couple years before. They even raised the sales tax for a couple years - surprisingly it wasn't made permanent, like my old hometown Toledo's "temporary" 3/4% income tax that has been in effect since 1982.
There's a full blog post someplace in my brain regarding how the GOP has lost its way on fiscal conservatism, so I'd rather do that as a full post and not go into it now.
Well, we don't have to worry about Chinese controlling one of our oil companies, the CNOOC bid to take over Unocal was rejected. There's a free-trader argument that can be made that objections to the takeover based on national security were outweighed by the true capitalism of highest bidder wins, but I'm not into letting a company unencumbered by competition at home and propped up by a totalitarian government have a piece of our free industrial society.
Finally, this article last Wednesday regarding our border security. I can't say I'm surprised, heaven knows I disagree with President Bush on his handling of the borders. But I'm more disappointed that this was withheld as secret. I suppose the excuse would be that it would be used in the election against Bush, but Kerry was already the master of the flip-flop. I'm doubtful Kerry's border solution would have been any better.
It does beg the question whether the border problem will hurt the GOP in 2006. While I can still argue for now that there's a big difference between the parties, it's unfortunate that the powers-that-be in the GOP sometimes seem to want to drift the party leftward when the mood of the electorate is moving right. It's almost like that once they got power in D.C. (or Columbus) they saw that providing goodies was the key to staying in power, rather than following the principles that enticed voters to put them there in the first place.
So the electorate becomes more frustrated and loses interest in voting. This gives the extremists a disproportionate hold on power, and there's more extremists who want government to have a bigger role (after all, they know voting for larger government keeps their bread buttered) than there are extremists who want government to be checked back to the Founders' intent.
Hopefully we will learn from the history that shows that governments tend to become more totalitarian as they go on.
Some of mine for tonight, since I caught up on my gopusa.com news roundups:
Here's a shocker headline - Report: More Democrat than Republican Operatives Involved in Voter Fraud. This story details electoral fraud in a number of states and cited the five worst cities: Philadelphia, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Seattle, and Cleveland.
Just from my memory, Philadelphia had some irregularities in its last mayoral election based on an FBI investigation of the incumbent mayor John Street (some claimed it was a smear by the Bush administration,) Milwaukee was the home of the Democrat operatives that slashed the tires on GOP-hired vans Election Day eve, St. Louis (polls held open for extra time in 2000, perhaps costing John Ashcroft a Senate seat and placing in his place a dead guy,) Seattle was the epicenter of the Rossi v. Gregoire "found votes" snafu, and Cleveland is in Ohio. Enough said.
Notice all of these counties are "blue"? If they can't steal it at the ballot box, they get judges who will let them I guess.
Speaking of blue voting, there was a statement by Robert Novak where he claimed the GOP is in trouble, shown by the close vote in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District. Novak's clain was that the struggles we're having in the War on Terror will come back to hurt the GOP in 2006. My beef with that opinion is twofold. Number one, Novak is known to be against our Iraqi involvement, whereas I'm a supporter of the mission; and secondly, the Ohio GOP is in a world of hurt right now because of the Coingate scandal and the horrid approval numbers of the three main Republicans: Gov. Bob Taft and Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich.
The problem in Ohio, then, has nothing to do with the War on Terror, but more to do with the moderate state government. They have no problem with giving us back money when there's a surplus (a good idea) but the problem is that they don't know how not to spend money. So, when the economy got tough, they had to raise taxes to cover the spending they thought was affordable a couple years before. They even raised the sales tax for a couple years - surprisingly it wasn't made permanent, like my old hometown Toledo's "temporary" 3/4% income tax that has been in effect since 1982.
There's a full blog post someplace in my brain regarding how the GOP has lost its way on fiscal conservatism, so I'd rather do that as a full post and not go into it now.
Well, we don't have to worry about Chinese controlling one of our oil companies, the CNOOC bid to take over Unocal was rejected. There's a free-trader argument that can be made that objections to the takeover based on national security were outweighed by the true capitalism of highest bidder wins, but I'm not into letting a company unencumbered by competition at home and propped up by a totalitarian government have a piece of our free industrial society.
Finally, this article last Wednesday regarding our border security. I can't say I'm surprised, heaven knows I disagree with President Bush on his handling of the borders. But I'm more disappointed that this was withheld as secret. I suppose the excuse would be that it would be used in the election against Bush, but Kerry was already the master of the flip-flop. I'm doubtful Kerry's border solution would have been any better.
It does beg the question whether the border problem will hurt the GOP in 2006. While I can still argue for now that there's a big difference between the parties, it's unfortunate that the powers-that-be in the GOP sometimes seem to want to drift the party leftward when the mood of the electorate is moving right. It's almost like that once they got power in D.C. (or Columbus) they saw that providing goodies was the key to staying in power, rather than following the principles that enticed voters to put them there in the first place.
So the electorate becomes more frustrated and loses interest in voting. This gives the extremists a disproportionate hold on power, and there's more extremists who want government to have a bigger role (after all, they know voting for larger government keeps their bread buttered) than there are extremists who want government to be checked back to the Founders' intent.
Hopefully we will learn from the history that shows that governments tend to become more totalitarian as they go on.
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